by Randy Dyess
“It was this team who successfully tested the kinetic weapons on Chaovis. They killed dozens of spiders and damaged a spider landing ship enough to keep it on the ground. This was not the first attack. Several planets have been attacked and over seven hundred million people have been taken during those raids. The Senate Security Committee knows about the spiders and has known about them for months.”
“What the sergeant major is saying is true,” Fidel spoke up. “All of us have been involved in multiple spider attacks. I was on Candus when it was attacked, and my mission was to test new comm gear for the agency. It failed, and I joined up with Sergeant Major McCoons’ group of survivors. That mission was my third. The researchers on Hybee have not been able to come up with anything that will stop the spiders, other than the kinetic weapons you trained with.”
“And they still haven’t,” Rutger stepped in. “The new weapons we were supposed to test here failed right away. My ship was vulnerable to the EMP blast and the new comm gear failed. The Senate is not making progress against the spiders, and they intend on using the inner and outer rim planets as a buffer. Everyone on an inner or outer rim planet has been written off by the Senate Security Committee. Think about that: over a trillion people have been considered acceptable losses.”
“That’s what I think, as well,” Sergeant Major McCoons said. “The people who gave us those weapons did so without the knowledge of the Senate or our leadership. They believe the same thing: the Senate is buying time with our lives. They do not intend to confront the spiders in the rim worlds—they only want to stop them from attacking core worlds. I have had enough. I’m no longer going to let our command or the Senate put me in front of a spider attack without proper weapons and backup. I’m no longer going to watch the spiders take the population of a whole planet captive without doing something about it.
“We have weapons that work and we’ve developed good tactics. Now it’s time for us to do something. I know I’m asking a lot of you because to do this, we’re going to have to walk away from the Terran Marines. If you try to go back to resign, they’ll just stick you on the next planet to be attacked—and they’ll make sure you don’t have your nano-blade with you. I don’t intend to let our command know I survived this attack, and Mr. Burchard tells me that an agency freighter will be coming into orbit around Shaserus in a few days.”
“That’s true,” Rutger said. “Our mission was to use the new weapons to capture live spiders and take them to Hybee for study. I bribed the freighter captain to land at this base three days after the spider attack. The researchers can predict the attack down to the day and know how long the attack will last based on the number of people on a planet, but this doesn’t mean they’re going to try to stop the attack or evacuate the planet. None of us,” he said, pointing to the agents, “are going back. We are not going to meet the freighter; we want the agency to believe we were taken.”
“I am going to join them,” Sergeant Major McCoons said.
“Me too,” Sergeant Henry said.
“And me,” Sergeants Preston and Yamikani spoke at the same time.
“What does this mean for us?” one of the scouts asked.
“It means that, if you are going to join us and fight the spiders on our terms, you will need to make the decision to let Marine Command think you are dead or captured.”
“What’s the next step? How do we fight the spiders on our own? Our weapons have been destroyed,” another marine called out.
“True, but I’ve dealt with the people of Sullivan Shipping several times now and they created and gave us the weapons that saved our lives,” Sergeant Major McCoons said while holding up his nano-blade. “I trust these people and I don’t think they will abandon the people of the rim worlds like the Senate has. They’re fighting the spiders where they can and I’m going to start taking my orders from them if they will have me.”
A loud murmur went up as the marines argued with each other. None of the men and women assembled in the building had family members to go home to—most had left the near slavery of corporate employment their families had dealt with for generations. The outer rim was their home, and most of the marines in the warehouse believed they should be the ones defending it.
“How will they know we are here and ready to join them?”
“I bet they’re in orbit right now. These weapons won’t be the only ones they designed—they know this war will be fought in space, as well as on land, and they’ll have designs for fleet action. They’re probably in orbit right now, testing them on the spider fleet. If they are not, I’m sure they’ll come here as soon as the spider fleet leaves.
“I was on one of their security vessels as we went from planet to planet after the spider attacked. They’ve given away everything they had to help the survivors and they won’t let us down. They know we had a good chance of defeating the spiders with their weapons—and we would have if it wasn’t for that damn inspector.”
“What are you talking about? We did defeat the spiders,” someone shouted out, causing the whole group to cheer and shout. Sergeant Major McCoons let them shout themselves out. The marine was right: they had defeated the spiders, and they had done so armed only with nano-blades. It would have been a slaughter if they’d had their kinetic weapons—no marine would have been lost in the battle last night.
“Okay!” McCoons shouted to quiet the group. “I agree. We did kick spider butt and we can do it again, given the chance. That is what I am asking of all of you. Join me and we’ll have plenty of chances to kick spider butt. We’ve trained and fought together, and we’ve been lied to and used by the Senate and the Terran Marine command. There aren’t a lot of us left, but it’s enough to start a whole new command. Who wants to join me in forming the first company of combat marines? Who’s tired of playing security guard for rich kids? Who here doesn’t ever want to do another shine parade? Who’s ready to make it their mission to save humanity from those alien monsters?”
The small group of marines chanted, “Combat Marines! Combat Marines!” First Company, First Division of the Rim World Combat Marines dug into the crates around them and had a party that lasted well into the night.
Chapter 17
“Captain,” the tactical officer said, “the last spider ship has entered the FTL endpoint. It’s closing up.”
“Understood,” Dakota said. “Helm, plot a course and take us into orbit over Shaserus. I want scans covering the entire planet and all moons. Let’s see what’s left down there and if anything is trying to hide from us.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Robert, keep the railguns hot,” Dakota said. “You never know what we’ll come across.”
“They’re ready to fire when you are,” Robert replied.
“Good. Let’s go check out the planet and see if our friendly sergeant major is still alive.” The Sullivan’s Revenge swept around the moon over Shaserus and within minutes had achieved orbit over the planet. The ship made several passes, but the scans turned up negative on signs of spiders or large concentrations of humans.
“Would we see them if there was only a few left, or if they dispersed into small groups?” Robert asked.
“We’ve worked on our sensors and they should be sensitive enough to see groups of one hundred or more. We should also see any energy sources. If the marines are there, we’re not picking them up. There must be less than one hundred of them,” Dakota replied.
“Could they be undercover or underground?”
“They might—we haven’t been able to penetrate large buildings or anything more than ten meters underground. Cheyenne has promised me another set of sensors that can create a three-dimensional reading of what’s inside of all buildings with more than one pass. I’m looking forward to seeing it in action.”
“That would be handy. The ability to pinpoint exactly where people are in a building would benefit ground operations, which reminds me: I was reading an old mission report from a group of North American marines
during the Unification Wars. They mentioned using a gunship in orbit as ground support and using its railguns to bomb enemy troop concentrations and strong points. I want to try doing the same. I think the combat AI would be able to fire accurately enough from a shallow orbit to hit individual buildings.”
“Write up your firing solution and we’ll try a few tests before we leave orbit. The spiders have destroyed a large number of buildings on the base and in the city, so I don’t see how a few more would hurt.”
“You know, that doesn’t fit their pattern,” Robert said.
“What do you mean?”
“Based on the reports from the last spider raids, they only bomb to create landing zones, and ninety percent of the population of Shaserus lives in the city next to the marine base.”
“Do you think they’ve changed their attack pattern?”
“Yes. Look at the map. There are already hundreds of empty areas in the city and marine base that could have been used as landing zones. Why would they have bombed at all? Let me show you,” Robert said, pulling up a scan of the city and base. “Look, they’ve bombed the headquarters building, armory, ammo supply, and fuel depot. They’ve also bombed the government complex and the civilian spaceport repair facilities. This wasn’t a bombing to clear landing zones—it was the systematic destruction of key infrastructure.”
“You’re right,” Dakota understood what Robert was trying to tell her. “They’re behaving like they wanted to eliminate any ability to fight back. Do you think the agents’ actions on Chaovis made the spiders change their tactics?”
“Yes, I do,” Robert replied, “and I think our actions against the fleet may change their tactics, as well. We’re going to have to be careful, even if our railguns can damage or destroy their ships. For all we know, the ships and spiders they are sending to attack us may be reserve or non-combat units.”
“Like sending security guards to stop a food riot, instead of riot police or marines?”
“Exactly.”
“What do you think we need to do?”
“I don’t have a full plan of action in mind, yet, but it is something we need to discuss once we get back. I am going to join my team on Hybee and try harder to convince those researchers to join us. Cheyenne and her team need help and we have to find it for her.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, as well. I know they trained people on the planets the spiders have already hit or bypassed. Let’s get some teams together and go after them—convince them it would be in their best interest to help us.”
“That’s a good idea. They’re the ones who have the most to lose, after all. They’ve been written off and left for dead, and we’re the only ones showing any interest in saving them. Maybe we can pull together enough teams to start something else I have in mind.”
“What’s that?”
“Now that we have proven the gunship concept, I want to strip the outer rim of all small freighters and security vessels and convert them into gunships. We will still build the larger vessels like Sullivan’s Pride, but if we can convert a few dozen existing vessels into railgun platforms, it would give us more options.”
“This is starting to get bigger than us,” Dakota said. “We’re just a small outer rim shipping company—not the Terran Navy. Who’s going to coordinate all of this? I’m not an admiral.”
“You may have to become one. Even if the Terran Navy would help us, they would be ineffective. They’re a joke. The best thing they could do to help us would be to turn over their ships and let us find crews to run them. Those officers are only good for hosting parties and parades.”
“I know, but I’m not sure I’m ready for this. I’m not experienced enough to run entire fleets.”
“Well, who is? I mean, who do you know that could run entire fleets?”
“Captain Moore from the battle at Pirate’s Bay.”
“Yes, but wasn’t the Castle lost over Candus?”
“We never found a debris field. It might have been able to escape, but was too damaged to get back. I still have hope that they’re drifting somewhere and just haven’t been found, yet.”
“Who’s looking for them? You know Candus Corporation has already written them off.”
“I know, and I’m counting on that to convince Moore to switch over to us once he surfaces. I don’t think Candus Corporation is going to be running any more security patrols in the outer rim.”
“You’re probably right, but it’s been over two months since the Castle disappeared. I think you should start thinking about a plan B and come up with another name.”
“I have been, but everyone I think might be able to handle a fleet in combat is someone you wouldn’t like.”
“Why?”
“They’re all pirates. There are no security captains in this region of space that have more than two ships on patrol and no shipping captains that handle more than one ship at a time. There’s no one—unless you can come up with some names.”
Robert thought about it for a minute before replying, “I can’t come with anyone who isn’t a pirate.”
“We’re in more trouble than we thought if pirates are the best mankind has to offer,” Dakota said.
“One other thing,” Robert said.
“What?”
“You and Sergeant Major McCoons became close during the time he spent with us.”
“So?”
“If he made it out alive, you need to put your foot down and convince him to join us. I can handle special ops, small teams, and small raids, but I’ve never commanded large groups of enlisted military. I don’t have the experience, but he does. We will need a large combat force trained to take back whole planets if the spiders decide to start occupying our planets, instead of raiding them.”
“Do you think that will happen? Why wouldn’t they have done that before, if they wanted to capture territory and not just space?”
“They could have just been feeling us out for the last few months—trying to get a sense of our capabilities. If they ever learn the truth about our military, we’ll be in real trouble.”
“Thanks for giving me something else to worry about. It’s bad enough to think the spider fleets we are seeing are just security guards and not a real military.”
“Yeah. Now you know why I have bags under my eyes.”
“Let’s land at the marine base and see if anyone is alive. Sergeant Major McCoons would have figured out we would land there after the spiders left. If he’s not there and hasn’t left us a note, we’ll circle around the base and see if we can’t alert them or spot them. When we find him, I’ll lock him up until he agrees to leave the marines and join us.”
“Good girl,” Robert joked. “Now, land this ship, pick up your marines, and get me back in orbit. I have buildings to destroy.” Both Robert and Dakota laughed before she ordered the bridge crew to land the Sullivan’s Revenge.
*****
Woryant was worried. He had followed Klachur’s orders to harvest the Emea territory and had a successful harvest until the last two planets. A small group of humans had successfully managed to kill a squad of his Freack and damage a landing ship two blems ago and now he was getting reports of a larger number of Freack killed and two squadrons of ships destroyed. What is happening?
“Computer, input new harvest missions and analyze the human’s defensive patterns.”
“As you command,” Woryant’s AI responded. Before it could finalize its report, Klachur’s face appeared over his desk.
“Report on the last harvest. Did you make your quota?” Klachur demanded.
“The last target had a small population of humans and no other meat sources. I’ve harvested ninety-nine percent of the humans on the planet, but the total number is below my quota for the month. The next planet has a larger number of humans and millions of other meat sources, so it will average out.”
“Why did you harvest this planet, then, and not go directly to the larger planet? Are you that incompetent to understa
nd basic quotas?”
“No, Klachur. This planet had a human military base on it and I thought it would be better to neutralize it before moving further into the territory.”
“Why would you be worried about the human military? Your reports have shown no ability for the humans to interfere with our harvesting. What are you lying about?” Klachur shouted.
“They’ve shown a trend of resisting the harvest. The latest had a small number of Freack deaths and we lost one squadron of landing ships and one squadron of assault ships. It’s only a tiny fraction of the fleet, but I wanted to analyze the results and change my tactics, if necessary.”
“I don’t care about your Freack or your pathetic excuses for assault ships. Make the quota, or I will find someone who can. If you can’t handle this, so help me, I’ll feed you to the Freack.”
“Yes, Klachur. I’m analyzing and changing tactics,” Woryant said. If you would just let me handle things, we wouldn’t need to wipe out this species, he thought.
“I’m tired of talking to your image. Come to my office!” Klachur shouted. “Bring your pathetic plans with you and I’ll make the necessary adjustments to get you back on track and try to explain them to you so your worthless self can understand. Get in here now!”
*****
“Sergeant Major,” one of the scouts shouted, “a ship’s entering the atmosphere.”
“Can you see it well enough to tell what it is?” McCoons wanted to know as he and Rutger made their way to the scout.
“No, Sergeant Major. It’s too far away.”
“Okay. Make sure the scouts are all under cover with no heat signatures and wait for my lead.”
“Yes, sir. The scouts have already hidden in their designated spots. We’ll follow your actions and not react, no matter what happens, unless you order us to.”
