“Don’t be afraid, we are not with the Saltic. We are here to rescue you. Come out and you will be safe,” Alaya said, knowing she could not guarantee the last part but needed to instill hope into the frightened group. There was sudden movement of the debris pile and the Romani squad moved their shields forward in case of treachery. The optio put her shield in front of Alaya as the rest of the debris came down and a man emerged. When he saw the serpents he pulled back and looked like he was going back into the debris. Alaya put out her hand and grabbed his arm. “Wait, stay here and have the others come out, we will not hurt you.”
“Who are you and why do you have animals with you?”
“They are not animals; they are part of our Republic. They are sentient and are here to help drive the Saltic from your home world. But we must hurry, the Saltic are in your village and will soon reach this house.” This last statement got the Brandenburger citizens moving. More of the debris moved and a woman and two children came out. The children looked to be under age thirteen. Alaya could see the children had the hollow look in their eyes that indicated they had seen terrible things. Now they were confronted by a mixed group of humans and aliens that looked like dinosaurs and were armed.
“What are your names?” Alaya asked.
“The father responded, “My name is Shane Roberts, this is my wife Alice and our children Roger and Alice.”
“My name is Alaya Slone and this is Optio Brave Claw, the leader of my special forces.” The serpent optio nodded her head. “We have to move, the Saltic are looking for stragglers.”
The Roberts family took a bag out of the pile of debris that held all they could rescue of their personal belongings. The boy had a model hovercraft that spoke of earlier times of enjoyable playtime. The little girl clutched a ragged doll that was so dear to her that it was threadbare from constant hugging. The boy was eleven and the girl nine. As a mother, Alaya’s heart was broken for them, given the circumstances they suddenly found themselves in. The Roberts were placed in the middle of the column as they ascended the stairs back to the first floor of the five story apartment building they found themselves in. As they came out of the basement, there was a sharp whistle from the guards posted at the front entrance. Brave Claw sent a legionary forward to find out what was happening. He came back to report that the enemy was now on their street and would be entering the building shortly.
“Shane, is there a back way out of here?”
“Follow me. If any of you have an extra pistol, I am willing to fight to protect my family,” Shane Roberts said and one of the human legionaries gave him her pistol with two clips. Alaya could see by the way he handled the pistol that he had some training.
“You ex-military?” Alaya asked.
“Yes, army. I have seen many of the local corporate militaries. None were dressed like your forces and they certainly didn’t have aliens fighting with them. Who are you people and why are you here?”
“We are from the Matsua Rim and your CEO has asked for our help. We are soldiers of the Republic of Nova Romae and our fleet is presently engaged with the Saltic fleet in orbit.”
While conversing, they were moving away from the front entrance as Shane Roberts led them to the rear of the building. “I know enough about corporate space to know that the Matsua Rim is more than a year from here. The Saltic have only been here for about a year, there was no time for our CEO to send for help and have it arrive in less than two years. How can that be then?”
“We can move through space without slipstreams. Your planet is only one jump from the Matsua Rim,” Alaya replied, since the corporations they had contact with knew about the wormhole drives.
“Someday I would like to hear about that. This is the back door, it leads to the alley we put our trash in,” Shane pointed to a door and was about to open it, when Alaya pulled his hand back.
“Shane, let us check it out first. If the Saltic are efficient, they will make sure their quarry doesn’t bolt out of the back door.”
The optio automatically sent a serpent legionary to check out the door, which was not locked from the inside. The serpents were best suited for this kind of activity since they could visualize their surroundings by scent. The serpent pushed the door open slightly and quickly darted out her tongue and pulled it back, then closed the door. The serpent analyzed the scent molecules that landed on her tongue. She then turned to the optio and gave a report in serpent speak. The optio then turned to Alaya, “Sss. Captain, there are five Saltic guarding the alley.”
“They speak our language,” Shane Roberts said, a bit shocked. From the looks of his family they were just as shocked at the revelation.
“It would be hard to communicate if they didn’t. Their language is very hard to master, though some have.” Alaya then turned to the optio, “Optio Brave Claw, what do you suggest we do. If they already have the back covered, they must suspect there are humans in this building. They will come through the front shortly.”
“Sss. Captain, if we did not have the civilians, we could fight with them outside. But with the human family, we need to use the inside for cover and to confuse.”
“See to our defense then,” Alaya told the optio.
The optio began issuing orders and the legionaries moved the group into the entrance lobby, just behind the double doors that were locked and hopefully would keep the Saltic back for a bit. They could see them tentatively examining the doors, since they did not have infrared vision and would need to use electronics that they did not have with them. They were doing a house to house search the old fashioned way. Since the Romani knew they would be attacked from front and back, they placed Alaya and the Roberts family in the middle of a double circle they made with their shields forward. The inner circle consisted of ten of the twenty legionaries available. The remaining ten with the optio formed the outer circle. Since the outer circle had a greater diameter than the inner, there were gaps, but the legionaries so positioned themselves, so as to fill in the gaps. The outer circle consisted almost entirely of serpents, while the inner circle was all human. This was due to the fact that the humans had ranged weapons and the serpents were melee fighters with their short spears, claws and tails. The plan was for the inner line to fire ranged weapons against the Saltic while the outer line would charge them if the opportunity presented itself. Otherwise they were to act as a defensive wall. All was set just as the Saltic came through the first front door into a vestibule. The Romani had left the lobby dark so it would be more difficult for the Saltic to see them, but they were dimly visible through the inner door of the vestibule. The Saltic may have wondered what they were seeing, but they came through the inner door nonetheless.
As soon as the inner door opened, the front line of Romani crouched down a little with their shields on the floor as the second line rested the barrels of their guns on the shoulders of those in front of them. As they waited to see what the Saltic would do, Alaya put a call through to the Mary Rose.
“Tavia, go invisible and fly over the village, we are under attack and need eyes in the sky.”
“Right away, Captain.”
As this conversation was ending, seven Saltic came in the inner vestibule door and began to spread out into a skirmish line. The Romani could also hear the rear door blown open by an explosive charge and knew the five from the alley were on their way in. Once the five Saltic from the alley were in the lobby, both groups of Saltic started to fire on the shield wall. The special structure of the shields diminished the power of the Saltic energy weapons. The optio ordered the Romani to return fire, which they did. Since the enemy was wearing body armor, the Romani opted to use the energy portion of their weapon, which was slung under the projectile barrel. The Romani were very accurate in their skills and three Saltic went down almost immediately, two from the front and one from the rear. The Romani were not unscathed in this first exchange. Two went down, one human in the second line and one human in the front. One was dead and one gravely wounded. The outer circle c
ontracted a little and to his credit, Shane Roberts picked up the rifle of the fallen legionary from the inner circle and took his place. The human Decanus came over to him and showed him how to hold the shield in front of him and how to determine which barrel would fire. Such courage as Shane Roberts demonstrated was admired by the Romani.
“Captain, Tavia here, there are more Saltic coming up the stairs from the maglev station. The ones you are fighting must have called for reinforcements,” Alaya heard in her ear through her comlink. “I can take them out as they advance up the main street and a well placed missile will take out the station.”
“Do it,” Alaya said as the firefight in the lobby continued.
Suddenly the optio let out a whistle and the outer circle broke in two with one portion forming a line of overlapping shields and running at the forward group of Saltic and the other charging the rear group. The Saltic kept up a rapid fire and several more Romani went down, either dead or wounded, but once the legionaries reached the Saltic, the aliens realized they had boxed themselves into a tight space what was not easy to leave except one at a time. They never had the chance. Once at close quarters the skill and training of the Romani along with the strength and speed of the Serpents soon put an end to all of the Saltic in the building. As this was going on, Alaya could hear explosions outside with a massive detonation at a distance. She assumed the massive rumbling was the maglev station taking a direct hit. The optio ordered the inner circle to remain on post and guard Alaya and the Roberts family. The optio then took what was left of the outer circle squad and moved to the doors. Alaya could not see what was happening but could guess. A few Saltic survived the onslaught from the Mary Rose and were still trying to figure out where the enemy fire was coming from, when the Romani rushed out of the building and fell upon them with such force that they were taken out. It was all over very quickly except for taking care of the dead and wounded.
“Tavia, land in the village square and we will come out to you. Become visible, there should be no more danger. If they had air transports they would have used them and not the maglevs.”
“Yes, Captain. Landing now,” the ever efficient Tavia acknowledged.
Alaya could hear the ship landing in the square a few blocks from their position. The optio sent some legionaries to the ship for more medical supplies. Back in the building, the Special Forces medic was taking care of the casualties. In total there were three more dead, two serpents and one human. Five had wounds, but none life threatening. Alaya was impressed with the Roberts’ children. They were not panicking, despite dealing with hostile aliens that looked like giant worms and friendly aliens that looked like dinosaurs. Alaya was not sure she could have acted that well at their age. This allowed Alice Roberts, who had some medic training, to help with the wounded. She had to ask the human medic for advice in treating the serpent wounded, and was impressed with how easy it was to get used to dealing with giant reptiles. She loved talking with them; it was unexpectedly soothing to hear them speak human language.
As they were working on the wounded, the front door opened and Tavia entered with Hatch in tow. As soon as the serpents in the Special Forces saw her, they dropped to one knee, bowed slightly, then returned to their duties. This action was not lost on the Roberts and they all looked at the young woman. Suddenly the optio, who by now all knew was in charge, said, “Sss. Lady Tavia, you honor us with your presence.”
“As always it is I who am honored,” Tavia said, graciously following the formula that had developed over time. She then turned to Alaya, “Captain, the fleet has triumphed and the Saltic fleet has been neutralized. I reported our location and condition. They are sending engineering techs with the life support panel Olivia told them we need to replace. They are also sending down the first century of the first cohort from the Tempestas to secure the area.”
“Good, glad to hear that. I am not sure we could have dealt with more attacks. Any word on when the legions will be landing to deal with the Saltic on planet?”
“The Consul has not given any orders. From what I gather, the fleet won but took quite a beating. The Saltic are worthy opponents.”
At this point, Shane Roberts came over, “Excuse me, but what happens to us now?”
Alaya responded, “I doubt you are safe here alone, especially since you are the only survivors in this village. If you want to go elsewhere or stay, I can’t prevent that, but I offer you our protection if you want to come along with us.”
“I and my family would be grateful if we could come along. The children actually feel safe with your reptilian friends.”
“I have noticed that the serpents are more easily accepted by children than adults.”
There was a sudden whining noise outside that Alaya recognized as the sound of landing craft repulsors. They cut off and the first century of the Legio I Celeri disembarked along with five engineering techs carrying tools and spare parts. The techs went to the Mary Rose and the legionaries set up a perimeter while Centurion Marshal went into the building to check on Captain Alaya Slone and her special forces. When the centurion entered, the Special Forces who were able to snap to attention did so. He looked at the carnage wrought by the fight. As usual, the serpents ripped the Saltic apart as soon as they reached them. He could also see that the unit suffered casualties and ordered his medics to come in and help with the wounded. He then went over to his wife, who was talking with Alaya and some civilians.
“Centurion, thank you for coming down and helping here. I’m sure you have a lot to do in orbit,” Alaya said.
“The other Captain Slone wanted me to come down and make certain you had what you needed. I also wanted to make sure my wife was ok.”
Tavia then looked at her husband and said, “I’m fine. I was in the ship and not with the ground forces. The only danger I had was related to the space battle that forced us down here. What’s the condition of the fleet and the legions?”
“From what I gather, the fleet took quite a beating. We have not had a post battle meeting yet, but we lost seven destroyers, two cruisers and three dreadnoughts were also knocked out with various levels of damage. Some of the battleships also suffered heavy damage and the legions took a lot of casualties during boarding actions. They used their EMP weapons and one battleship along with a cruiser and two dreadnoughts lost power due to failure of their EMP defense. They had to repel boarders and then board the enemy.”
Alaya responded, “Sounds like quiet a fight up there. Sorry we had to miss helping out, but we had to get to atmosphere before all life support ran out.”
“I think this family is glad you did,” Centurion Marshal stated.
Alaya heard a voice in her ear and recognized it as her daughter’s, “Captain, life support is fixed and we can leave whenever you are ready.”
“Centurion, the ship is fixed, we can leave and you can head back to your command.”
William Marshal acknowledged and began to walk out when he suddenly stopped and appeared to be listening to someone. Alaya knew that look, there was a contact from the fleet and the centurion was receiving orders. After about thirty seconds, Bill Marshal acknowledged the message and turned to Alaya. “Change of plans, Captain. All six legions are deploying to the planet and will meet up with what remains of the Brandenburger forces. We are ordered to go to the landing sight and make certain that the area is clear of enemies.”
“We will head right there, give Tavia the coordinates and we will meet you there. We will take the wounded and dead in the scout,” Alaya said and nodded to the optio who looked to the centurion who told her to carry on. By now they were used to Alaya forgetting the chain of command, as long as it did not affect the mission. The Roberts adults helped with the wounded and the squad carried the dead as they went out to the Mary Rose and went aboard. The Roberts were assigned temporary quarters and the adults were willing to help all they could. Since Alice had medic training, she joined the medics in the sickbay. Shane Roberts’ job in the military was enginee
ring and Olivia was glad for the help. For his part, Shane was surprised at the youth of the chief engineer on the scout ship. Since engineering was repaired as best they could, but still had some patches, Olivia stayed aft with the engineering techs from the fleet. She asked Shane to keep an eye on the engineering console for her, which he was glad to do, after he passed the knowledge test Olivia gave him. When all were settled, Centurion Marshal contacted Alaya and asked her to scout first invisible before he brought the landing shuttle over. Alaya acknowledged and looked in the direction of Hatch, “Hatch, make us invisible.”
“Sss. Yes Captain Slone,” Hatch replied and began whistling and working the control panel. After a few minutes, “Sss. Ship invisible.”
Invasion Page 22
