by PP Corcoran
Semple didn’t have time to observe his handiwork, he had already moved on to his next victim. With as much force as he and his suit could muster, Semple pushed his blade up and under the chin of the second Other. The force of the maneuver lifted the hapless enemy soldier off the ground as Semple buried his knife to the hilt. Death was immediate.
Semple lowered the space-suited body to the ground and glanced around. There was no sign of the first soldier. Its momentum had already carried it out of sight. He hoped it wasn’t discovered until after the assault had begun. The question foremost in Semple’s mind was whether the Others had been lying in wait for him or whether it was Murphy’s Law showing its hand by throwing an unexpected monkey wrench in the works of best-laid plans. Swiftly, Semple checked the vicinity of the base of the crater. Sure enough, there it was, a tool bag secured beside a half-open metal cover. Relief washed over him. Thank you, God! The enemy he’d just dispatched had been performing routine maintenance, he hoped, as he moved toward the metal cover.
Semple removed the cover completely and shone a light down the shaft it had been encasing. Approximately twenty meters down, there was a second metal cover. God knows what’s down there, but what the hell? Never one to waste an opportunity, Semple rapidly and efficiently attached an explosive charge to his magnetic grapple and sent it down the shaft. The magnet held the charge securely to the second hatch. Random explosions would only add to the chaos and confusion that could buy the assaulting force enough time to secure the base.
With the explosives in place and the clock ticking, Semple headed to his final target.
Forty-three minutes and ten seconds until fleet arrival, nine seconds... eight seconds... seven seconds...
#
Vladimir lay on his abdomen and used his enhanced optical scanners to assess the brightly lit airlock only 350 meters from him. His ultimate goal. No appearance of any guards but Vladimir easily discerned the ugly protuberance of a plasma weapon emplacement on either side of the airlock.
“I gotta take care of you mothers,” he murmured. He had to destroy them before his troopers could advance into the open, otherwise they would be cut down before they achieved more than a few steps.
The plan called for his small force of ten troopers, and three others like it, to take their signal from the arrival of the fleet. On cue, they would attack the four identified air locks on this side of the asteroid and hold them until the arrival of Alec’s marines. With the arrival of the reinforcements, they could then force their way into the base and secure it.
Vladimir had reached the rally point without incident and hoped the other Thunder troopers had done the same. A blinking red icon in his display warned him that a whisker laser was requesting his IFF, Identification Friend or Foe. An instruction sent the response and two Thunder troopers emerged from the gloom to take up defensive positions around the edge of the crater.
Over the next ten minutes, the remaining seven Thunder troopers of Vladimir’s force arrived at the rally point. All they could do now was wait and hope the fleet was on time.
Twelve minutes and fifty-nine seconds until fleet arrival... fifty-eight seconds... fifty-seven seconds... fifty-six seconds...
#
GARUNDAN SYSTEM – GARUNDA – 49.41 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH
Vice Admiral John Radford, Commander Third Fleet, prowled the flag bridge of TDF The Iron Chancellor like a caged animal. It was the waiting that he hated the most. For what seemed like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes he checked the countdown clock displayed at the top of the main holo cube. It filled the entire center of the flag bridge. The numbers remorselessly marched downwards.
Five minutes and zero seconds... four minutes and fifty-nine seconds... fifty-eight seconds...
The lieutenant at tactical turned to address the admiral. “Fleet reports all ships at battle stations. Colonel Murray reports his marines embarked on the assault shuttles and buttoned up ready for drop.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Alekia. Communication’s fleet-wide address. Audio and visual, if you please.”
John positioned himself in the center of the flag bridge, clasped his hands behind him, and squared his shoulders as he faced the holo pickup. A nod from the officer at communications told him his image was now being beamed to every ship of the massed Third Fleet.
“Ladies and gentlemen of Third Fleet. Since our first meeting with the Others, we have been on the defensive, reacting to the actions of the enemy like a puppet on a string. But no longer… Now we take the war to them! All of you. Be you human, Persai, or Garundan, have gathered together with one aim… defeating the Others. And today, together, we take that first step. A step that will undoubtedly cost us in blood but one that must be taken. I know that some amongst you are nervous, even fearful, of what faces us when we join battle. Look around you, your crew mates share that feeling. I share that feeling.”
John kept his eyes fixed on the pick-up, staring into it as though he was staring into the eyes of the people he was about to send into battle, infusing them with the confidence he wasn’t feeling in its entirety.
“All I ask is that you do your duty. May your gods be with you and I’ll see you on the other side.”
The flag bridge was deathly still as John made his way over to his command chair and punched in a private comm channel. The face of Alec Murray seated in his Wraith suit aboard his assault shuttle appeared in the small holo display.
“Nice speech, John.” The beginnings of a smile appeared on John’s face as he shrugged his shoulders.
“It felt like the right thing to do. Are you ready for this?” Now it was Alec’s turn to give a small smile and chuckle.
“No. But I’m going anyway! Vladimir would never let me live it down if I didn’t personally lead the troops. Besides, there’s a certain Sergeant Semple on that rock that I’m in debt to and you know how us Scots hate being in someone’s debt.” A red icon blinked in John’s display. Thirty seconds to go... twenty-nine... twenty-eight... John looked again at his friend.
“Good luck, Alec.” The Scotsman’s grin spread from ear to ear.
“Who needs luck? I’ve a plasma rifle with a full charge.” John cut the link, smiling and shaking his head slowly. The lieutenant at navigation began his countdown.
“Three. Two. One. Fold.” Third Fleet vanished from the 31 Aquilae system.
#
ENEMY SPACE – WHITE DWARF SYSTEM – 54.2 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH
The countdown clock in Vladimir’s display hit Zero.
Bang on cue, a small green telltale icon started blinking in Vladimir’s display. His suit had detected the arrival of Third Fleet’s flagship, The Iron Chancellor.
“Suit. Break communications silence and broadcast the go-code to all Thunder units and the Flag. Break. Suit. Thunder Channel. Thunder one-zero, fire at will.”
The Thunder troopers around him, with Hand-Held Hyper Velocity Missiles, let loose at the weapons positions on either side of the airlock. In a heartbeat, both positions were torn apart by the missiles impacting at 30,000 kilometers per hour. Even as the missiles struck their targets, Vladimir and his troopers bounded forward, closing the distance to the airlock. Within seconds, they had covered the distance and were stacking up in single file along the right-hand side of the rock surrounding the sunken airlock entrance.
“Breaching charges forward!”
A trooper moved forward on Vladimir’s command and slipped a small, but extremely powerful, shaped-charge explosive from each leg pouch, it had been developed exclusively for this operation. Activating the integral magnetic grips, he attached two to the seam where the doors of the airlock met, one high, another low, before stepping back around the protruding rock. Theoretically, the shaped charges directed the explosive force forward so that there was no danger to anyone standing directly behind them, but a soldier of any ilk knew the ever-present risk of malfunction; the experts advised on their safety but they didn’t suffer the injuries when their litt
le toy failed to function as advertised. The Thunder troopers didn’t take any chances, particularly with an untested high explosive.
“Cover! ... Firing now!”
The troopers anticipated the deep rumble that caused their boots to vibrate, it was followed swiftly by a bright flash. The outer airlock doors were breached. They rushed through the prodigious expanse the explosives had carved and found themselves in a large airlock easily big enough to hold twenty Wraith-suited troopers. Perfect. Vladimir looked at the inner airlock door. Yeah, a perfect match for the outer door.
“Breaching charges forward!”
A trooper moved forward and prepped the inner door just as he had the outer one, with more of the same explosive charges, placing one high, one low, in a matter of seconds his task was complete; he retreated as far into the crowded airlock as he could.
“Cover! … Firing now!”
Vladimir’s suit rocked with the now-familiar blast but it was accompanied by an unexpected rush of atmosphere, traveling with a formidable force. Like a hurricane, it contained every unsecured nut and bolt from beyond the inner airlock. Vladimir’s suit was bombarded by wave after wave of debris, small and large. He caught a glimpse of a few unlucky enemy crew member flying past, wide-eyed. Vladimir could almost hear the screams escaping from their muted open mouths as they were ejected into the cold vacuum of space.
Without warning, the deadly flow of out-rushing air stopped. Vladimir speculated that the automatic bulkhead doors further inside the base had been sealed shut, leaving those trapped to their ignominious fate while preserving the remaining base from the effects of the breach.
Vladimir and his troopers stepped into a small plaza-like area with four corridors branching off of it, apparently leading further into the bowels of the base. Vladimir knew he would leave himself vulnerable to a flanking attack if he moved down any of them. His phase of the assault would be complete as soon as he secured the breach. “Suit. Thunder One Zero. Alfa team secure right flank. Bravo team move left. Find yourselves a good firing position and hunker down. Now we wait for the cavalry.”
Vladimir crouched in the doorway of what he thought had once been an office. He paused to check the progress of the other Thunder troopers. He let out a satisfied grunt as he noted that all the demolition charges his troopers had placed on their way to their rendezvous points had functioned successfully. The plan was on track and would diminish enemy fire against the navy as they held position off the naval base before launching Alec Murray’s marines. It seemed the Thunder troopers at the three other airlocks had made successful breaches with minimal casualties and were assuming defensive positions to await Murray’s men.
Oddly, none of the other teams were reporting any type of enemy counter attack. The enemy didn’t appear to realize that with only the small number of Thunder troopers holding the airlocks, this was their best chance to dislodge Vladimir and his men and re-take them. Well, Vladimir wasn’t known for looking a gift horse in the mouth, time to give the admiral the good news.
#
John Radford and Third Fleet sprang into existence only 200,000 kilometers from the naval base. Their engines strained to bring them to a halt relative to the base. Third Fleet was already at battle stations. Every weapons system in its mighty arsenal was manned and ready for action.
Extensive planning, using the data from the reconnaissance drones, had allowed John’s staff to build a detailed picture of the enemy’s defenses. The planning staff devised a complicated fire plan to coordinate his ships’ ordnances as one and bring the heaviest weight of fire down on the enemy as quickly as possible.
John forced himself to remain in his seat on the flag bridge of the Bismarck class battleship TDF The Iron Chancellor. He was finding it difficult to hold his features in check as the ships of Third Fleet unleashed their combined fury on the Others. Three Bismarck class battleships, six Nemesis class battleships, nine Vulcan heavy cruisers, and nine Talos light cruisers fired as one.
An avalanche of missiles fell on the outer defenses and the smaller asteroids containing them as Third Fleet pummeled them into cosmic dust. Grazers reached out to touch orbiting weapons platforms and the radars that guided them. Wherever the grazers touched there was a brief, intense light like a moth dancing too close to a flame as the platforms succumbed to the massive energy transfer and exploded. The planners hadn’t taken any chances. As fire shifted from the weapons platforms and smaller asteroids, it was redirected to targets on the larger asteroid that held the naval base itself. Missile silos and laser defense sites, already crippled by the Thunder troopers’ demolition charges, were targeted a second, third, and sometimes fourth time as Third Fleet scoured the surface clean of any threat.
John’s eyes never left the tactical holo cube showing the space surrounding Third Fleet and the naval base as the lieutenant at communications spoke.
“Admiral. Thunder reports all breaches successful and requests immediate marine support.”
“Understood Lieutenant, inform the marines that they have permission to launch.”
“Aye-aye, sir… Marines away.”
If at all possible, John stared even more intently into his holo cube as a sprinkling of smaller icons appeared in the heart of Third Fleet and headed for the naval base. Surrounded by the massive armored battleships and cruisers of the fleet were four Excalibur Assault Ships.
Based on the Vulcan heavy cruiser, the Excalibur had been modified to carry a complete assault battalion of 510 marines along with everything they would need to sustain them. The small icons in John’s display were the first wave of forty Buffalo assault shuttles, holding 800 marines, heading for the breaches in the naval base’s defenses. Twenty Reaper close support craft were riding shotgun, ready to use their quick firing plasma cannon and high velocity missiles to neutralize any threat to the shuttles.
John creased his forehead as he stared into his holo cube. Something wasn’t quite right. The recon probes had shown the naval base was heavily defended by missile silos and energy weapons on the asteroid it had been carved into, surrounded by weapon platforms almost thick enough that he could have got out and walked to the base. There were more weapons mounted on the bordering lesser asteroids that also needed dispatching.
OK, Thunder may have destroyed all the defensive systems on this side of the base, Third Fleet had laid down a massive amount of fire on its arrival and neutralized the surviving weapons, but even still... the enemy response should have been greater, Third Fleet wasn’t taking enough hits. The enemy reply was… sluggish.
“Tactical. Update on enemy response.”
The officer at tactical scanned his readouts quickly, he tapped a few keys updating John’s display before turning to face him.
“Admiral. Enemy fire is sporadic and uncoordinated. Our systems show we are being successfully targeted by the enemy fire and control radars which we are destroying in turn with High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles and grazer fire but it doesn’t explain why, if they can target us, their defensive fire is so completely uncoordinated.”
The officer paused as if searching for an explanation.
“Sir. If I hazard a guess, I would say that they have suffered significant damage to whatever command and control system they use.”
John considered that for a moment. That had been his own gut feeling but right now he had more to worry about than a failure in the enemy’s chain of command.
“Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth, Commander, we’ll worry about it later,” John was cut short by an urgent call.
“Vampire! Vampire! Multiple missiles incoming from the far side of the naval base. A count of 380. Missiles are in search mode. They’ve been launched blind from the far side of base.”
John rapidly snapped his orders out.
“Activate electronic counter measures. Free anti-missile batteries fleet-wide. Move the Agis anti-missile destroyers to a best firing point between the enemy missiles and the shuttles. Agis priority fire is in defe
nse of the marine shuttles, the fleet will have to look after itself.”
The marine shuttles didn’t turn from the incoming missiles. Their best hope of survival was to get to the surface of the asteroid on the double. John conjured the image of pilots pushing their throttles to the stops, coaxing a fraction more speed out of their already overtaxed engines. He punched in a new command, and in his holo cube the face of Rear Admiral Evans, Co BatFor 3.1, appeared.
“Rhys. I suspect we have enemy ships hiding in the shadow of the asteroid. Maneuver your command until you clear the blind spot. Remember, Thunder have destroyed the base defenses on this side but we can’t allow them to take potshots at us with impunity. If one of those missiles gets a lock on a shuttle full of marines, it won’t stand a chance.”
Evans nodded. “Understood, Admiral. You can count on us. Evans clear.”
The face of Evans disappeared and John’s attention returned to the tactical problem at hand. Without the Agis destroyers, Third Fleet would inevitably take hits.
“Enemy missiles have acquired targets, Admiral. Looks like they’ve been programmed to pursue the largest ships. Most are ignoring the shuttles and are heading straight for us. Sensors show a second wave of similar size crossing the radar horizon of the asteroid now. Their search radars are going active.”
A tap of a key and the image of Captain Chandra Badal, John’s Flag Captain, appeared.
“Admiral,” said Chandra with a slight bow of his head.
“Captain. Please feel free to fight as you see fit.”
