"Haven Fleet will lead this charge," Lamonthe said. "I'll get to work organizing the battlegroups."
"The Nafalli will provide significant reinforcements," Doolth added. "My people will enter this fray with verve."
Eighteen
The Bunker
* * *
"The fleet is trapped between Tamber and nine Order Battlegroups. Interdiction pulses are making faster than light retreat from orbital space impossible," Agameg reported passively from the bridge, his voice clear in Jake's ear.
The dirt to his left exploded upward in a fan of black and red-hot specks as he rushed to a thick pillar. He was pretty sure it was once a support for the high-speed rail. The Order Knights holding the entrance of the bunker were dogged in their defence, and they had those famous rifles, the kind that could put rounds through a civilian hull as though it was made of tissue paper. "Go reinforce the Sunspire Group and the Triton. We're pinned down here. Any shuttle you send down will get wrecked before it reaches land."
"Acknowledged, Admiral," Agameg replied. "We are ascending."
"Good hunting up there, I'll tell you the moment we can risk a pickup." Jake said, watching Remmy and Dot come running to him, firing at the bunker as they moved. Ever since the Sky Queen went down, things started taking a bad turn. They managed to keep the Order Knights occupied enough so the last civilians they could locate were off the island, but they still couldn't use the highest settings on their weapons because they weren't sure if there were civilians in the bunker. It resulted in most of his people getting pinned down behind slowly eroding cover.
"God dammit! I wish we could just call for an air strike on these bastards," Remmy said.
"You're starting to sound like Frost," Jake said with a chuckle, looking at his tactical scanner. The bunker was a black blob, the Order managed to turn the sensor jammers on. They were built into the facility when it was constructed by Haven Fleet. He wondered if anyone thought about the possibility that the enemy might use it against them.
"I heard that," Frost said. "You're making me proud, Remmy."
"Ignore him," Stephanie said. "We're almost in position on the west side of the bunker entrance. So far the Knights haven't shown that they've seen through our stealth."
"We're having the same experience on the east side, there is no sign that they're aware of our approach," Alaka said. "The jungle is on fire, though. It's spreading quickly."
Fires were a danger that everyone agreed would come up if fighting dragged out, and Jake was unhappy to see it starting. They had been on the moon for too long, the effort to make sure they got all their people off the island was on the verge of failing. That was, if there were hostages in the bunker. The Fleet already saw the mission as a success so far, but Jake didn't want to risk leaving anyone behind. He knew what captivity was like, he would spare anyone that experience. Even still, they had to hurry. If they weren't ready when the Fleet found a way to break through the blockade, his people would be left behind. "This island will be scarred by what happens here, there's nothing we can do about that now. We have to get close enough for a good scan then bust into that bunker."
"So, we're taking it soon?" Remmy asked. The crater behind them had the remainder of their force, a hundred and thirty-seven heavily armoured soldiers. They were safe, under cover, but that was about to change.
"The fleet is stuck here, and we'll lose pilots if we call transports in. Even worse if we try to break orbit on our own," Jake said. "We're taking those Knights out."
"There are sixty-three of them by our count," Dotty said. The woman was a giant, and a great infantry commander. Jake would have to promote her soon, set her up with her own squad. "There are about three hundred Order Soldiers supporting them, but those scans were taken by a sensor ball we sent in. We can't trust anything with the jammers running. I know exactly where the controls are, but we need to shoot our way to them."
"Thanks, Dot. We'll try to get you there," Jacob said. Stephanie and Frost were almost in position with their thirty-nine soldiers, and Alaka was in position with his seventeen Nafalli. Most of them were in the heaviest armour Haven had, loaded down with extra shielding and beam weapons that would look at home on a starfighter. "All right," Jake said. "We're rushing. Launch shield drones," he ordered.
Thirty-five of his troops carried them. They were hundred-fifty-kilogram drones that projected shield barriers so Jake's soldiers could rush behind them. They soundlessly hovered overhead, stopping over Jake, Remmy and Dot as he ordered them to split up so they could each lead a third of the force. "All right, spread out and lead the rush," Jake said.
Remmy and Dot ran to either side of him, each taking a third of the drones with them, their shields holding against the explosive rounds fired by the Order Knights from the heavy cover the bunker provided. "Charge!" Jake cried, rushing from behind cover, holding his fire as the shield barriers in front of him shimmered and flickered as a barrage of heavy rounds struck them.
In a few seconds he was surrounded by his fellow troops, their shields merging with his so they'd be well protected once the drones were destroyed or their capacitors were depleted. "Fire broad suppression rounds once we close to thirty metres," he ordered. It was an infantry rush unlike he'd ever seen. Over a hundred soldiers in heavy armour based on a design he invented while he was still the captain of the Samson charged in a line with Remmy, Dot and him. Their augmented strength and speed allowed them to cover ground at a rate that seemed ferocious. Their ground pounding boots made the terrain rumble underfoot. The Order Knights kept firing, but their focus was on the drones above Jake's soldiers. That was a mistake.
With few rounds exploding in front of the rushing soldiers, they were clear to begin firing slower moving suppression rounds. "EMP rounds!" he ordered, and the charging line lit up as every soldier sighted an Order Knight and sent electromagnetic pulse rounds their way. Jake performed a hard scan using every sensor his groups' armour had and was happy to see real results. The scan wave was stronger than the jamming signals. The ground floor of the bunker was filled with Order soldiers, and they were running towards the door. The Knights retreated off to the side. "Incoming! We have a few hundred Order of Eden regulars coming from the bunker!"
The great hole left by a blast from the Merciless that melted the double doors and more was filled by Order Soldiers then. They wore the equivalent of old Freeground military vacsuit armour but their weapons could do real damage. They were Haven Fleet standard issue infantry rifles from the bunker's armoury. "Switch to lethal rounds! I didn't see any sign of civilians," Jake ordered. "It's time to show these bastards why we call our rifles Knight Killers."
The Order soldiers managed to do a little damage to the shields projected by their drones, but it turned into a massacre as Jake's soldiers ripped into them with energy pulse rounds that were made to burn through medium armour. The Order soldiers were trying to counter-charge through a choke point, it made it easy for Jake's people to focus on the seven or eight that came through at a time. Even as he fired a string of energy rounds through the melted doors, he wished they'd surrender. They were fighting a lost cause. Their knights were using them as fodder.
"Jake, is there a sally port on this bunker?" Frost asked.
"It's not on the blueprint," Jake replied.
"I see it; There's a group of Knights trying to get out on our side," Stephanie said.
"Stop them with prejudice," Jake ordered.
An explosion filled the air, followed by a yellow-red plume of fire and smoke over sixty metres away. "Well, we scattered those Knights, and they know we're here, so…"
"Charge them and finish the job," Jake said, seeing the surface scan of the western side of the bunker. They didn't so much close the door, but whoever was on their way out was probably dead. Thirty-five soldiers firing on them with Knight Killer rifles through another, smaller choke point would make the knights easy prey, especially since everyone knew how to put them down for good. It wasn't a terrible gam
ble on the Knights' part, sending all their normal soldiers out to distract Haven Infantrymen while they escaped out the side door, but it didn't work out. "Alaka, any sign of a sally port on your side?"
"Nothing, we just did a surface scan. There isn't so much as a crack in the bunker armour here," he said.
"Good, move closer to the front of the bunker and hold. I want you to keep scanning for any new openings in that side." Jake didn't need their heavy firepower, not yet. "Oh, and watch the sky."
"Aye, Admiral," Alaka replied.
The bodies in front of the bunker were stacking up at a horrific rate, and the enemy charge was slowing. Jake was about to lower his rifle when a blast of light cut through the Order soldiers from behind and struck his shield barrier. Three of his drones failed, showering everything around them in sparks as their systems overloaded. The seven he had left made up for it in time to stop the next bolt of energy from cutting into his soldiers. "Rush the door!" he ordered, activating his thrusters and zig-zagging to the bunker in seconds, colliding with the unyielding metal cladding to the right of the main doors. Most of his soldiers did the same, but a few were caught by a bolt of white fire as it was flung from inside the bunker. One soldier was killed instantly, two others were incapacitated, their armour barely saving them from the white-hot plasma shot.
The last soldiers caught on open ground scattered instead of hurling themselves at the bunker as Jake and the majority of their fellows did. Another bolt shot out, damaging two of his people's armour as it missed narrowly. Jake took the opportunity to toss all three of his cluster grenades into the bunker. "Fire in the hole!"
The unique springing, popping sound of eighty-six small grenades separating from each other, filling every corner of the bunker entrance, preceded the ensuing destructive chaos of explosions by three seconds. As soon as his tactical system reported that all twenty-eight of the pellet sized explosives went off, Jake moved inside. "On me!"
The moment he was through the melted bunker doors his armour reported a sudden drain on his shields, something got behind him. He whirled, activating the nanoblade built into his left gauntlet. It was a Citadel trooper in blackout armour that made him look more like a shadow than a man. How he survived the grenades he set off, Jake didn't have time to guess.
The Citadel soldier was pressing an energized nanosword of his own against Jake's shields, it was so effective that they were almost gone. Sparks and fitful blue flames spat from the point of contact. Dropping his rifle against his chest where it affixed, Jake grabbed the soldier's wrists and slashed at his arms with his gauntlet blade, severing them both. "I have a captive here," he announced as he fired three stun rounds at the soldier then rolled his sleeve up and injected him with emergency stasis medication. It was then that he noticed framework systems regenerating the limbs. Without a moments' hesitation, he dropped the soldier, grabbed his rifle and set it to fire electrically charged explosive rounds made to kill that type of regenerating foe. Two loud bursts obliterated his enemy's head. A soldier covering him jumped at the sound. "Take their heads off if they start to regenerate, we don't have time to convert frameworks here," Jake growled as he moved to catch up with the rest of the group. Remmy and Dot led his people further into the bunker. "Surrender! We surrender!" shouted an Order of Eden soldier who dropped to his knees, a couple dozen more in the room behind him were doing the same. Jake switched to suppression rounds and fired them on a wide spread, stunning and covering the lot of them with sticky plastic netting that started hardening immediately. "Where are the rest of the Knights?" He asked, looking at the weapon in the middle of the room. It was some kind of plasma cannon, they'd wired it into the bunker's power systems roughly and jury-rigged controls. It wasn't something he'd seen before.
"I don't know, but this'll help," Dot said as she reached a control terminal and deactivated the scanner blocking systems inside the bunker. Jake's tactical system highlighted them right away.
"There are some Knights two levels down, they've surrounded themselves with unarmed people," Frost said as he and Stephanie entered the room.
"We don’t have time for this," Jake said. There were only nine Knights left in the whole bunker, many of the ones they detected before were fakes, decoys. "Frost, Stephanie, Alaka; get everyone together and get up to one of our ships. It doesn't matter which, as long as it has a quad drive that can get you out the system the moment there's an opening."
"We have Citadel Lifeboats flying down to Haven Shore. Fleet says the occupants are armoured, well-armed," Remmy said.
"If we get out of here fast, we won't have to worry about them," Jake said, seeing that the nearest one was still seven minutes away.
"You're going to stay down here and lead a group of volunteers to free the captives?" Frost asked, his holographic skull visage had a taunting, one eyebrow up look. "I know you too well, Admiral. That's not happening this time. This island will be crawling with Citadel troopers before you can free anyone. You'll be trapped with them."
"This bunker can communicate with defences all around the island. I'll figure something out and get clear. If I can't, then I'll secure the civilians and we'll dig in. There are a lot of places to hide."
"Right," Remmy said. "Leading from the front is one thing, presenting yourself to get killed or captured is another. Those Knights would give their lives to take you down. I'll lead the rescue, I have the negotiation training and nothing to lose."
Dotty regarded him with concern. Stephanie nodded. "He's not the only one. We'll take a team down, see what we can do. You take the rest of our soldiers home."
It was the first time he was undeniably a liability in the field. Jake hated it, but they were right. "All right, let's call some corvettes and shuttles down, it'll take a long time for them to get free of the battle in orbit, but we might not have much mobility without them," he agreed. "Remmy, Dot, you'll lead the rescue. No heroics. You make the attempt, let your scanners find out who is being held captive down there, and if you can't extract them, then you'll get to orbit as quick as you can."
"Aye," Remmy said.
Before Stephanie could add herself to the mission again, Jake turned to her. "You're coming with me, Captain Vega. The fleet needs leaders. There's no point in doubling up for this mission, especially since all the access points to that floor are only large enough for one squad to get through at most."
"Aye," Stephanie replied.
"There is a new group of soldiers approaching," Alaka said through the communicator in Jake's helmet. "We wouldn't have detected them if we weren't running a hard scan every second. We detect a group of twenty-eight coming from two Citadel lifeboats, they are all framework."
"A few of those lifeboats must have had cloaking systems," Frost said. "So much for seven minutes grace."
Nineteen
Reload, hero.
* * *
Fighting her way back to the Merciless as it raised into position in orbit to re-join the fight, landing after approaching at a dangerous speed, running through a quick but thorough check of her fighter's systems were all things Dame could handle. They were not all simple tasks, some were risky, but she didn't take short cuts in training, so some of them felt automatic. There was no question her knowledge couldn't address, and she and her fighter were in the right place at the expected time when the work was over.
The uncomfortable questions and difficult confrontations started after she'd popped the lower compartment door on the belly of her fighter open and dragged Wheeler's unconscious body out. It was in a protective vacsuit bag, so she couldn't hurt him, but that didn't mean the responsibility of watching over her captive was lessened. Minh-Chu's fighter was on the deck next to hers, and he crossed over to her. "Keep your head clear, we're going back out with a new mission," he told her. "Oh, and I'm taking another pilot with us; call him Easy, he's one of the last Freeground Fleet pilots."
"Easy," she tried the name. It seemed too light hearted to be the call sign for a fighter pilot, but she
nodded and said. "All right, I'll hurry up and finish the prisoner transfer." There was a tap on her helmet, the sound of people approaching, and Dame found herself lifted up onto shoulders. "Dame got Wheeler!" someone cried.
The Deck Officer and four Merciless Security Guards watched over Wheeler as a cable was connected to the bag and a scan was performed. The crowd hushed for a minute, then the security guard looked up and nodded. "It's him. Scans verify. He's in perfect condition."
A greater cheer went up, and Dame was almost dragged carried away from her Uriel, but she caught the main antenna at the rear of the craft with one hand. "It wasn't just me," she protested, glancing at Ronin.
He was laughing, his helmet retracted, looking at her with a grin that might have meant; 'Better you than me!' The Deck Officer, a tall woman with white hair, tapped her boot, trying to get her attention. Dame knocked on the helmet of one of the men carrying her, getting his attention as she pointed down. "I've got more fighting to do!" she shouted over the din. They put her down, quieting. "Thank you," she told them, feeling their anticipation, their eyes. "I was only the tip of a spear in this, and we won. Now we have to keep fighting. There is a war to win."
"Are you relinquishing custody of the prisoner?" the Deck Officer asked, holding his command and control out for her.
Dame retracted her gloves and helmet then pressed her thumb to the DNA reader. "I am relinquishing custody of Lucius Wheeler." She replied officially.
There was a rise of applause and cheering that was too loud without the audio filters in her helmet, and most of the people who shouldn't have been there, people who were rescued and not secured away, she assumed, followed the sealed protective bag with Wheeler inside as it was carried through a pair of doors that led deeper into the ship.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 14 Page 15
