Invasion

by Donald Nicklas

  Alaya could tell by the expression on his face that Shane Roberts was dumbstruck by the revelation that the Romani had a cloaking device and wormhole drives. How had the corporations fallen so far behind? The ship lifted off and headed to the coordinates where the legions were to assemble. This was a large plain that could easily hold all six legions. Shane could see clearly through the bridge bubble. Since he heard they were invisible, he had to assume that was correct and that is why they did not put up the bridge armor. He recognized the area they were exploring. It was a large, flat plain between parts of the mountain range near the city. There was a broad pass through the mountains that led to the northern part of the city. A major flyway for hovercrafts went through the plain, but there were no hovercrafts present, due to fear of the Saltic. Shane knew his job and was surprised these strangers trusted him, but in this war, the enemy was easy to spot and all humans had to trust each other or fail as a group. He was pulled out of his reverie by Alaya suddenly speaking, “Shane, is everything running smoothly in engineering?”

  “The board is clear and all systems are registering nominal function, Captain,” Shane reported.

  “Excellent, Tavia is there anything on the scanners?”

  “No, Captain, there is no movement on the plain other than small, indigenous life forms.”

  “Blue, put me through to the fleet,” Alaya ordered.

  “Sss. The channel is open.”

  “This is Captain Alaya Slone reporting no enemies or abnormal movement on the plain assigned for legionary deployment. You are cleared to land.”

  “Thank you, Captain, deploying now.”

  Alaya recognized Juan Lorenzo’s voice on the channel. “Captain, multiple ships are entering the atmosphere, the legions are deploying. I suggest we become visible so they don’t hit us,” Tavia said.

  “I agree. Hatch, make us visible.”

  “Sss. Yes Captain.”

  The ship became visible and moved towards the nearest mountains to get clear of the plain as the landing shuttles came down. There were 60 shuttles for each legion plus support and each legion’s section of their legionary camp. The shuttle with Centurion Marshal’s century rejoined the Legio I Celeri. As Alaya was watching the landing and the beginning of the camp assemblies, a large number of serpent ships entered the atmosphere and started flying combat air patrols. Consul Lorenzo asked Alaya to take charge of the CAP while the legions assembled their camps and all serpent ships acknowledged, knowing that Tavia was aboard the Mary Rose. Olivia returned to her sensor console and asked Shane to stay on the engineering panel for now so she could concentrate only on sensors. Suddenly she looked up, “Captain, I have close to 40 small ships coming over the mountains to the west of us.”

  “Any identification?”

  “They are human vessels and sending a Brandenburger ID. Could they be the remaining Brandenburger forces?”

  “Liv, report your findings to the fleet and Blue, order the CAP to pull up with us and move towards the unknown ships.”

  After a short pause and as the serpent ships began to go into a formation, the reply from the fleet came in. Olivia reported, “Captain, the fleet orders us to stand down. Those are the Brandenburger forces and their CEO is with them.”

  “Blue, send a message to the CAP to stand down and have them redeploy over the plain.”

  As they watched, the newcomers were directed to an area in the center of the legionaries’ camps in such a way that the six legionary camps acted as a protection for the hard pressed Brandenburger forces. When all was assembled, Alaya requested permission from the fleet to land on the Tempestas and finish their repairs. Permission was granted and the scout vessel finally returned home to repair and await developments. Command of the CAP was given to the most senior serpent captain.

  Chapter 10 - The Liberation of Brandenburg

  As the Mary Rose was moving towards the Tempestas, the bridge crew could clearly see how desperate the battle was. Shuttles were still retrieving bodies floating in space and tech crews were heading to the remaining, intact Saltic vessels. Salvage crews were checking out the derelict Romani ships, of which there were quite a few. The battle against the Saltic had been fierce and Alaya had no illusions it would be any easier on the planet. So far there had been no call to a pre-battle meeting to discuss tactics. She expected this would happen at any time, so she was eager to get as much damage to her engines repaired as possible. There was also a large hole in the rear part of the hull where engineering had been penetrated. As Alaya exited the ship, along with her crew, except for Olivia who was joined by Diana Gardner to facilitate repairs. The ship was less populated than usual, since the twenty serpent ships she carried were down on the planet along with the legion. She learned from her husband that the Legio I Celeri was down twenty percent, or 1264 legionaries due to casualties. Apparently, this was an average across the board and meant that the entire consular army of six legions was down 20 percent. Of the 36,000 legionaries they started out with, cannon duels and boarding actions had taken out approximately 7,200 men, women and serpents. Thus, the effective strength remaining was now 28,800 against a maximum potential Saltic force of 59,500 troops. Of these 24,500 were front line while the rest were conscripts and not very well trained. From the boarding actions it was also noted that some remained on the ships for defense and an unknown number left with the Fleet Captain’s ship when he ran. Based on the numbers alone, it was going to be a very tough fight. The naval personnel had suffered less casualties than if they had been facing a human enemy, because the enemy energy bolts were not as effective as cannons against the capital ships. The destroyer forces lost the most since seven were either destroyed or totally wrecked and rendered derelict.

  “Are you alright, Hon?” Slone came down to the flight deck. “I heard about the fight on the planet.” Slone said as he gave his wife a hug. He then turned to the civilian family standing next to Alaya. “Welcome aboard the Tempestas. I am Captain Christopher Slone, in command of this vessel. The combat feeds from the ship and the helmet cams showed how you both pitched in during and after the battle. The Romani thank you. I will make sure you are billeted and the children taken to the children’s section for safety. This is not over yet and we have no idea if the ship that left will return with reinforcements.”

  “Thank you for taking us in. All the people we knew are gone and probably dead at the hands of those worms. My wife and I will gladly do anything we can to help fight them. Did I hear correctly that you have a place for children aboard this ship?”

  “That you did,” Alaya said. “The Romani keep families together, even on ships of war.” Alaya then turned to Tavia, “Tavia, would you show the Roberts the children’s section and then get them settled. I’m sure you will want to check in on your little ones.”

  “Yes, captain.”

  The Slones then went to their quarters as the repair and cleanup teams were hard at work getting the ship back into fighting shape. As Alaya changed out of her combat clothing and into a more comfortable outfit, she and her husband discussed the current situation. “Sorry I missed most of the space battle, but when that lucky shot took out our life support, it was all I could do to make it to the planet before the air ran out.”

  “Now that we have engaged the Saltic in a large fleet battle, I can tell you they are a tough and a worthy opponent. The only thing I fear is by how much they may outnumber us. They cover an entire galaxy in Andromeda and we only control a wedge of ours. If they have a similar population density to us, then they outnumber us by a factor of between eight and ten to one. Considering how much damage they have done to the fleet so far and what may happen to the land forces, we are in big trouble here.”

  Alaya had rarely seen her husband so pessimistic. Ever since the first encounter with the Saltic, while retrieving the Sakkara, pessimism had been slowly creeping into both their thoughts. They knew the Romani were powerful, but neither of them was sure what it would take to get the Saltic to back off.
They had some non-alcoholic refreshments, since both knew there was still a lot of fighting to come. As they discussed the fleet battle, the bridge called into the captain’s quarters. Slone told the ship’s computer to activate the communications panel on the wall and then said, “Slone here, report.”

  Tom Gardner’s voice came on, “Captain, Consul Lorenzo just contacted the fleet and reported that ground operations will commence in two days. He also ordered the fleet to rest for the next twelve hours, and sent orders for the Mary Rose under Captain Alaya Slone to be ready to deploy with fifty snipers. She will be in command of all sniper and scouting units.”

  “Acknowledge receipt and report Captain Alaya Slone will be down on the planet in about nine hours if that works, as she still needs some repairs on her ship.”

  After a short pause the response came back, “Central command acknowledges and also sends word that there will be a general meeting of all commands in the Consul’s camp after the twelve hours is over. This will include all ships’ captains as well.”

  “Send word that we will be there.” Slone then turned to his wife, “well I guess we better get some rest. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.”

  Slone told the bridge to set the ship to rest for the next ten hours for all but essential personnel and the damage repair teams. He then shared a half bottle of excellent white wine with his wife and they turned in for some rest. As the fleet and the ground troops rested, serpent scouts went out and spied on the Saltic, all of whom were staying in the city. They did send out scouting parties, but these did not venture far from the city and wore environmental clothing to protect them from the outside environment, which was actually quite mild. The Romani were not sure what the home planet of the Saltic was like, but they did not like any kind of harsh environment. Apparently, rain, which was common on Brandenburg, was not a favorite of theirs. The Slones had noticed this in their encounter during the Sakkara mission.

  The Slones awakened after eight hours and went to the flight deck where Olivia and Tavia were standing next to the corvette. “How’s the ship, Liv?” Alaya asked her daughter.

  “She is all patched up, except for the cosmetic damage and that can wait. There are some shaky patches on the engine, but as long we are not in any fleet combats, she will hold together.”

  “Ok then, let’s head down to the planet for the meeting and to get your snipers,” Slone ordered.

  Olivia and Tavia went aboard to join the rest of the crew. Some of the marines filled in the missing members of Alaya’s Special Forces. They would have to learn special techniques on the job, but they did bring Alaya’s forces back to full strength. To this would be added the fifty snipers, once they landed. Since the serpents did not use ranged weapons, all of the snipers would be human. When all were aboard, the Mary Rose flew off the flight deck and a half hour later landed near the legionary camps. Tavia was assigned to check into the snipers and Alaya went with her husband to the Consular camp for the meeting.

  The Slones had never seen so many legions in one place. Even though the legions were down twenty percent, they were still impressive to look at. They had never fought a pitched battle against the Saltic and were not sure how well they used tactics in combat. Most hoped they would not be used to having to fight a large force, since every Saltic they had questioned to date gave the impression that they were used to enemies just rolling over and surrendering. They were all technology and little stamina. However, they may well outnumber the Romani and their Brandenburger allies by two or three to one. That means a lot of firepower. The scouts had also returned and a lot will depend on what they saw in the enemy held areas. When the Slones entered the consular camp, the guards stood at attention when they saw the future second consul. Slone returned their salutes and they were directed to a large structure built as a consular chamber and meeting room. This structure was only erected when a consular army was used. A consular army was any unit consisting of two or more legions. The Slones were admitted to the large hall and saw that some of the commanders were already there, though it was still over an hour before the meeting. Some were talking tactics, though without the report of the spies, there was not much that could be undertaken. The talk then gravitated to the space battle that had taken place almost a day earlier and many wanted Alaya to recount her adventures while on the planet. As these discussions took place, time passed and the room continued to fill with ships’ captains and centurions. Each legion also had a Legatus assigned to take full command of the legion and function as the advisors to the Consul when the legions engaged. All was in readiness when Consul Juan Lorenzo entered the chamber. As soon as he came in, everyone stood up and snapped to attention; all but the serpents of course. With the Consul came Legatus Edmonton of the tenth legion who sat with the five other Legati. Also entering with the Consul was the CEO of the Brandenburger Corporation with his advisors and generals. Lorenzo took his place under the eagle symbol of the Republic of Nova Romae. He directed the CEO to a seat next to him and his three generals to seats with the Legati.

  “At ease everyone and you may all be seated,” Lorenzo began. “We have a lot of ground to cover. First, let me introduce the CEO of the Brandenburger Corporation, Juergen Schardt.” Lorenzo indicated the CEO who nodded his head when acknowledged.

  “I thank the Romani for their help. I am not sure we could have held out much longer,” Juergen Schardt said, somewhat downtrodden.

  “We will see what we can do to get the Saltic out of your hair,” Lorenzo continued. “We have heard from our spies and here is what they tell us.” The level of concentration increased tenfold in the room. “Our serpent spies penetrated deep into enemy lines and remained undetected. For the sake of those who are new to the Romani, our serpent Romani, are able to blend into the background and appear to be invisible. They have had ample time to spy out our enemy and here is what they found. They estimate that the Saltic forces consist of forty to fifty thousand troops. We are not certain if they are all combat trained or if some are what they call gatherers. It is the gathers who actually remove and harvest the brains. Based on the findings of the spies and direct observation with video logging, our intelligence assets believe the combat forces are closer to forty thousand. We will treat them all as combatants and show them no mercy.” There was universal nodding of agreement on this point. Though it was the policy of the Romani to honor worthy opponents and protect non-combatants, the Saltic were different. They had an alien way of looking at all other sentient species as inferior resources given to the Saltic for their use. They did not take the well being or desires of the other species into account, nor did they ever consider their suffering. As a result, they would be dealt with as the vermin that they were.

  Lorenzo continued, “The Saltic are encamped in the large central square of the city. They have set up permanent, domed structures and appear to be here to stay. We know from previous encounters that they prefer living under transparent geodesic domes which are rigidly climate controlled. Our scientist believe the Saltic ancestors were once much tougher than their descendants, but countless millennia of controlling all life in the Andromeda galaxy, has made them physically weaker as their technology did more and more for them. Perhaps therein is a lesson for us. From what we have gathered from talking with captives as well as autopsying bodies, many of their organs are diffuse and much softer than ours. They are basically, physically very primitive. Get past their technology and they do not stand up well in hand to hand combat. Therefore, our priority will be to close the distance rapidly and hit them hard with our shield walls.”

  At this point Legatus Philip Belvedere stood up to be recognized. This was Slone’s first chance to get a good look at the Legatus who was going to be in charge of the Legio I Celeri, which was stationed on the Tempestas. Primary centurion Marshal would be in field command of the legion, while the Legatus was in tactical command from the command hover. Philip Belvedere was Praetor of the Veii system, which meant he was the elected leader o
f that system and also functioned as a Legatus when called upon. He had arrived with the fleet and Slone had never met him. Basically he would be dealing with Centurion Marshal, and Slone would only introduce himself for a quick hello before returning to his ship. Alaya would be in the thick of it with her snipers, but Slone would be sitting in orbit with the fleet in case of a counter attack. As Slone was mulling this over, he was brought out of his reverie by the stentorian voice of Legatus Belvedere.

  “May I be recognized, Consul?” Legatus Belvedere asked. He was a mountain of a man and much the opposite of Legatus Edmonton, who had been in command during all of the legionary battles Slone had been involved in. He had a uniform, light brown skin tone, which was common throughout human space, since all of the traditional earth races had mixed in the aftermath of Earth’s demise. There was corporate inequality in space, and economic inequality, but humans had finally laid racial inequality to rest. In space they were all in the same boat. Lorenzo nodded to the Legatus and Belvedere started to speak.

  “Consul, do we know if they have air support? And what kind of ground weapons can we expect to face?” Legatus Belvedere then sat down again.

  “They have fortified their position with stationary energy turrets. We can take them out quickly with missiles if needed. We know from the Tempestas’ previous encounter that they use large, portable energy weapons similar to our portable, pedestal mounted Gatling guns. The legion you command is the only legion that ever faced them in ground combat. Centurion Marshal can fill you and the other Legati in on their previous encounter. As far as air cover, that is unknown. They have shuttles that move from planet to ships, but we have never seen them operate except for boarding and they did not use any weaponry then. We will leave with a full umbrella of air cover ourselves and leave it to the air arm to deal with anything they have. You will all receive your orders when you leave. Go over them with your centurions and be ready for all eventualities. I do not believe the Saltic will attack. They seem to be more interested in defense than attack, but just in case, make sure that all camps are well guarded. I also want a constant combat air patrol with the serpent ships using invisibility. We move out in thirty-six hours and retake the planet. Are there any more questions?”