by Randy Dyess
“We’ll get on it,” Rutger said, immediately leading the four other agents to the woodpile. They had just built the first set of torches and tossed them in front of the formation when the next wave of spiders hit. This time, they could see the spiders better and fought more effectively. Spider legs fell to the ground in bunches, and the torches gave enough light for the marines to lunge at spiders that got too close to the front lines. Nano-blades jabbed up and spider blood poured onto the beach.
“Alphus,” Sergeant Henry said, “the bodies are starting to get in the way and block our view of the fires. We’re having a harder time seeing when they are coming.”
Just as he finished speaking, Sergeant Henry was knocked to the ground by a spider that had used a corpse to jump over the two lines of marines. Sergeant Major McCoons and several reserve marines slashed at the spider with their nano-blades and killed it before it could hurt Sergeant Henry.
“Get up, Sam. You can take a nap later,” McCoons joked as he helped Sergeant Henry up.
They could see several more spiders utilize the bodies of their dead mates and land in the center of the formation. Sergeant Henry and Sergeant Major McCoons, with the help of the reserves, immediately attacked the spiders as each landed, but it was not enough. Several marines from the formation’s second line had to turn around and help, which left gaps in the formation.
The spiders hit those sections hard, but the line held and the marines were able to kill all of the spiders in the middle of the formation. Sergeant Major McCoons, however, knew they had a big problem.
“Sam, we need to withdraw into the water! Pretty soon, we’ll have spider corpses everywhere and they will disrupt the formation and make it impossible to fight off the next wave.”
“Understood, Alphus,” Sergeant Henry said before rushing to Sergeant Preston and Sergeant Yamikani. Soon, they all began to shout orders, and the marines stepped back into the water until they were waist deep.
“Halt!” the sergeant major shouted. He could see the spiders moving between the torches and the water line. Before he could react any further, though, white silk shot through the air and landed on his chest. It tightened as the spider tried to pull him toward the shore, but one of the marines behind him rushed forward and slashed with her nano-blade, cutting the silk and saving McCoons. “Thank you, private.”
“No problem, sir. You need to watch those spiders—they’re tricky,” she smiled.
“Formation, move back another five meters,” he yelled out. “We’re still in range of their silk.” The formation moved back until the water came to the neck of the shortest marines. “Halt!” Sergeant Major McCoons shouted.
They stayed in that position for an hour and watched the spiders move across the beach. Sergeant Major McCoons could tell the marines were getting cold and exhausted, but there was nothing he could do. The spiders were still on the beach, waiting for the marines to come out, and he still had the problem of the corpses blocking the view of the fires.
Sergeant Henry said, “Alphus, let’s move up the beach to get away from the corpses. It would be better than just standing here.”
“Agreed!” McCoons said before he shouted, “Move thirty meters to the north.”
“Yes, Sergeant Major,” came the muffled reply.
Sergeant Major barked, “Get ready! Sidestep!”
Step after step, the marines moved up the beach. The spiders followed, but the corpses had been left behind.
“Halt!” he shouted. “Let’s stay here for a while and see what happens.” Two hours later, the spiders were giving up. There seemed to be fewer of them on the beach, but he didn’t know where they had gone.
“Do you think it’s a trap?” Sergeant Henry asked.
“I’m not sure. I wish we had built fires up this way, so we could see better. Let’s move up to our waists.”
“Understood, Sergeant Major,” Sergeant Henry said before instructing the marines. They moved forward and received no response from the spiders.
It took another hour before McCoons said, “Let’s try it again, Sam. I think they may be gone. I haven't seen anything on the beach for at least an hour.”
“I think you’re right, Alphus.”
“Front line, activate your nano-blades! Second line, get yours at the ready. On my command, move forward as a unit onto the beach and stop once our feet are on dry land.”
“Front step!” Three minutes later, the marines had marched onto the beach, watching for any movement in the darkness. The spiders never attacked, though—they were gone.
“Okay,” Sergeant Major McCoons said, “let’s move back to the fires and warm up. Stay in four marine fighting units.”
“Yes, Sergeant Major!” they shouted, happy to be going back to the warmth of the fires.
For three more hours, the marines grouped around the fires. They were all exhausted and on the verge of hypothermia, but a loud cheer went up as the sun peeked over the horizon.
McCoons shouted as soon as the sun was fully up, “I want one squad to make their way to that hill and scout around. Everyone else, form into squads. Two members of each squad will keep watch at all times while the others sleep. Rotate every one hour. We’ll stay here until the sun is directly overhead, and if there has been no more spider activity, we’ll move back to the training area before heading toward the base. There may still be some water left in the cistern.
*****
After everybody had rested, Fidel said to Sergeant Major McCoons, “I want to thank you for letting us stay with your marines. We wouldn’t have survived the spider attack without you.”
“From now on, all of us will have to pull together if we want to survive. It’s spiders against humans, and they seem to have the upper hand right now.”
“I agree, but we both know our leadership won’t feel the same way. They’ll still see it as them against the spiders with us in the middle as a buffer. It's really us against the spiders with them on the sideline.”
“That’s not a good way for a Senate Intelligence agent to behave,” McCoons chuckled.
“No, it's not. It’s too bad our entire team died in the spider attack.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“No, but I do know I'm not going to meet that freighter in two days. It’s going to find an empty planet with no signs of a Senate Intelligence team.”
“I’m right there with you. I don’t think they will find any marines who survived the spider attack, either. All of us are going to into hiding. I'm done being sent to these planets without any way to protect myself.”
“My feelings exactly. Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“I have a feeling there will be a ship coming into orbit in a day or so that won't belong to any leadership. It will be the same people who gave us these,” he said, holding up his nano-blade. “The same people who gave us the weapons you used on Chaovis. I think my marines can hitch a ride with them.”
“Do you think they’ll have room for five more?”
“Maybe,” McCoons said with a smile. “Right now, we need to get to the base and see if the spiders took our dead marines. We also need food and water, and I think we may be able to dig out the weapons in the armory. If we’re lucky, the battle armor we were testing may work, too.”
“Battle armor?”
“Yes—another little present from our friends.”
“Are you going to tell me who these friends are?
“You’ll soon meet them,” he said before shouting at Sergeant Preston to form everyone up. It was time to find anyone else who might have survived and get something to eat, even if they had to walk all the way into town to find supplies.
“Sergeant Preston, we’ll make this an easy march. I want at least two marines on the hills surrounding us at all times. Leapfrog the hills and replace the teams every twenty minutes.”
“Understood, Sergeant Major,” Sergeant Preston said.
“We’ll scout this area first to see i
f we can find our missing marines,” McCoons said. “Sergeant Yamikani, take third and fourth squads and create a roving patrol with at least two marines on hills to the left and right of the formation. I want all eyes looking for spiders and spider ships.
“Understood, Sergeant Major,” Sergeant Yamikani replied.
“Sergeant Preston, have first squad form a search party for our missing marines.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sergeant Henry, why don’t we leave the march back to base to Sergeant Preston and Sergeant Yamikani? We’ll take Fidel and Rutger, make our way back as fast possible, and let the formation catch up with us later. I want to make sure there are no spiders left before the formation gets to base.”
“Sounds good, Alphus,” Sergeant Henry replied before turning to Fidel and Rutger. “I hope you two are up for a little jog.” Sergeant Henry chuckled before continuing, “Don't worry—with the sergeant major, it won't be a fast jog.” All four men laughed before they took off toward the base.
Chapter 15
After the success, the Senate team had on Chaovis with the ancient weapon designs, Cheyenne, and her researchers dug into the data archives, looking for additional weapons that could be used against the spider fleet. They knew the small weapons they had created for Sergeant Major McCoons and the marines would not be useful against a spider ship—they needed larger weapons for that.
The weapons currently used by the Terran Navy and corporation security patrol vessels would not have any effect on the rock hulls of the spider ships. Modern laser weapons could cut through rock, but you had to remain close to the target and keep the laser focused on the same spot for several minutes before it would penetrate, leaving you vulnerable to enemy fire.
Experiments with the modern missiles carried by the Terran Navy and security vessels against asteroids showed that they would not penetrate the asteroid’s surface, as they exploded once they made contact. Nothing in mankind’s current inventory of weapons would be able to destroy a spider ship.
Human ships did employ small railguns for defense against fighters, but they would be ineffective against any of the known spider ship designs, only useful against the actual spiders if they tried to board the ship.
After the attack on Chaovis, Cheyenne's research team had stumbled across a design for a much larger railgun that had been used on battleships during the Unification Wars. The design was like the current railguns used by the Terran Navy, but the projectile was built to penetrate the heaviest of armor. The issue was that the power required could not be generated on anything other than the largest of vessels.
Cheyenne had a team working around the clock to adapt the ancient design to their smaller ships, and she had the shipyard rebuild the old Sullivan’s Pride into a modern gunship equipped with two of the new railgun systems. She asked Dakota and Robert to take the newly named Sullivan’s Revenge and test the new weapon’s effectiveness against different types of asteroids.
“Do you think this will work against a ship and not just these asteroids?” Dakota asked Robert.
“It should. These are solid, and we know the spider ships are hollow. We should be able to punch through their outer hull.”
“Punch through and do enough damage to put the ship out of business, or just punch through?”
“It might have the same outcome. The spiders don’t wear combat armor or suits, so punching a hole in their hull should decompress the ship and hopefully kill the spiders near the rupture. We just don’t have enough knowledge of their ship designs to form an accurate picture of how much damage one or two hull punctures would do. We also don’t know if the spiders can survive exposure to space,” Robert said.
“Well, the only way to find out is to fire these new weapons,” Dakota said. “Do you want to target a few asteroids and we’ll fire a spread at maximum range?”
“Already entered into the weapon’s system. I’ve targeted six class D asteroids, none with notable cave systems. Three shots from each main railgun with one second between each shot for retargeting. It should be a good test,” Robert said. “We’re just waiting for your orders.”
“Helm, I want one pass a half-speed, then flip us over and make another pass at full-speed, both at maximum weapon’s range. Let’s see how accurate our targeting systems are,” Dakota ordered.
“Aye, Captain,” the helm officer replied.
“Report when we are at half-speed and maximum weapon’s range from the targets.”
In less than two minutes, the tactical officer said, “Captain, we’re at the testing parameters you set.”
“Robert, fire when you are ready.”
“Firing main weapons,” Robert replied.
“Successful hits,” the tactical officer said.
“What's the damage?” Dakota asked.
“All six shots found their targets. The first three asteroids have broken up into multiple fragments. Asteroid number four did not break up fully, but a large piece broke off and there is a large crack in the main asteroid body. Asteroids five and six were unaffected,” the tactical officer replied.
“Why did the last three rounds have different impacts?” Dakota asked.
“Working on it,” Robert replied. “I think it was the angle of fire. The fourth shot was perpendicular enough to penetrate. The fifth and sixth shots’ angles were too low, and they skipped off the surface of the asteroids. We need to redefine our weapon’s firing zone.”
“Make the corrections,” Dakota said. “Do you want another half-speed pass?”
“Yes, I’ve found six more asteroids with similar characteristics. Let me redefine the angle of fire and we can try again.”
“Helm, make it so,” Dakota said.
“Aye, Captain.”
The Sullivan’s Revenge flipped over and accelerated to reverse their course. In the past, a spaceship would only have one pass at a target, since decelerating, reversing course, and accelerating would have taken hours or days to accomplish. With the new generation of gravity disruptors, however, a ship could reverse course in a matter of minutes without ill effects on the crew or the ship.
“Captain,” the tactical officer said, “we are half-speed and maximum weapon’s range from the new targets.”
“Very well,” Dakota said. “Robert, whenever you’re ready.”
“Firing main weapons with three-second intervals,” he replied. “The new intervals should adjust the trajectories enough to get maximum impact angle.”
“Successful hits,” the tactical officer said.
“What's the damage?” Dakota asked again.
“All six shots found their targets. All six have broken up into multiple fragments.”
“Good,” Dakota replied. “Robert, did this give you enough data to correct the firing patterns?”
“Yes. Let’s make a couple of high-speed runs. Inputting new targets now.”
“Helm, accelerate to full speed. Weapons, fire when ready,” Dakota said.
“Firing main weapons with a one-second interval in three minutes,” Robert replied. “The new intervals should adjust the trajectories enough to get the maximum impact angle based on the new speed. I’m letting the AI create and input the trajectories—it should have enough data to determine firing patterns based on course, speed, and distance to target and build an algorithm to generate firing solutions.”
“Let’s hope it does. I’ve been reviewing mission reports from the Unification Wars. Fleet actions are a little chaotic and most of the reports mentioned using combat AIs to determine firing patterns and course adjustments. We might need to develop the same capability if we want to perform fleet on fleet battles,” Dakota added.
“Successful hits,” the tactical officer said.
“What's the damage?”
“All six shots found their targets. All six have broken up into multiple fragments.”
Over the next few hours, the Sullivan’s Revenge flew around the Archimedes asteroid field, destroying asteroid after asteroid
. Each time, Robert would allow the new AI to determine corrections to the firing pattern to achieve maximum efficiency.
“Let’s try a new test,” Dakota said. “Find a large asteroid with a high iron content.”
“How large?”
“Something equivalent to the size of the Titan—something we would call a battleship.”
Robert scanned the asteroid field. “Got one. It has a very high iron content and the surface looks to have the strength and density of battleship armor four times the thickness of the Titan. It would be the equivalent of a ten-meter-thick rock hull.”
“That’s what I had in mind,” Dakota replied. “High-speed or half-speed pass?”
“It doesn’t matter. The speed and distance are for the firing AI, not the railgun projectiles. They should have a nearly infinite range. Only gravity wells of large objects should affect them.”
“Understood. Fire a six-shot spread pattern and then a six-shot single impact pattern. Let’s see if it makes a difference.”
No more than two minutes later, the Sullivan’s Revenge had moved within range of the larger asteroid. "Fire,” Dakota ordered.
"Firing,” Robert replied.
"Direct hit with both spreads,” the tactical officer responded.
"What's the damage assessment?” Dakota asked.
"The spread pattern did not penetrate the surface far enough to have damaged a battleship, but the two single impact rounds did. I estimate both groupings created a fifteen-meter crater,” the tactical officer said. “That would definitely take out the Titan, but I don’t think it would be enough to take out one of those motherships reported over Candus.”
“Based on what theory?” Robert asked.
“Our ship’s construction patterns are similar, just adjusted for size. If their construction patterns match, those motherships would have hulls thousands of meters thick. We would have to hit one when its hatches were open.”
