The War Across the Stars

by Alex Pennington

  I glanced over at Ryan’s suit. It had a yellow stripe around each arm, just below the shoulder.

  “What does that stripe mean?” I asked Specialist Wheaton.

  “It shows that he is a squad leader,” he answered.

  “Oh…” I sighed.

  “Here are your controls for the Heads Up Display,” Wheaton said, pointing to a column of buttons beside the left side of my visor.

  “Each one is a simple activate/de-activate button. On top engages additional visor tint, for situations that you know you'll be dealing with bright light. Below that is whether or not you want the motion tracker displayed on the bottom left of your visor. This final one is your primary tactical display. It shows a rough idea of the terrain around you. It also displays friend or foe locations. Objectives are displayed as a white orb. But that only covers twenty meters. Other friendlies in battle armor will have their name and rank superimposed on your visor to appear to be above their heads. That’s only when you look at them though. All of that can be disabled with the bottom button I mentioned,” Spc. Wheaton explained.

  “Wow,” I sighed, “That’s a lot.”

  “So... let’s get it put on you and we’ll take you to the shooting range to get used to it,” Wheaton offered.

  He took me down a deck to the shooting range, the others following right behind me. It only took me about three hours to get used to the armor and its power. It was indeed rather simple. Max seemed to disagree though. He was still struggling after five hours had elapsed in the range. After about four hours of additional in-suit training we were escorted to our quarters where we would stay for the rest of the day. The raid on Vorga would be within the next few days. We had until then to practice.

  Before long it was time… We stood in a room with drop pods lining the wall. Our armor was on. Sergeant Peterson held an LMG-97 firmly in his hands. It held one hundred and fifty rounds per belt and had an excellent rate of fire. The belt was held in a box that attached to the light machine gun. Thanks to the recoil dampener built into the gun its recoil was minimal, but apparently, in powered armor it was almost nonexistent.

  “You are clear to enter the drop pods,” Wheaton announced over the intercom.

  I walked forward stepping into my assigned pod. Then I turned around and strapped the restraining belt around my waist.

  “Sealing pods…” Wheaton said.

  The opening in front me vanished as the metal plate sealed me in. I glanced over at a glowing red button beside the plate. It was the release button. It was for popping the metal seal off the pod after impact.

  “Drop is in fifteen minutes,” Spc. Wheaton murmured.

  “Ten minutes,” he said later.

  “Five … we’re jumping, be ready.” Things started to get noisy as the two fleets clashed.

  “Five... Four… Three… Two… One… Now!” he bellowed as a sudden jerk launched us from the tubes.

  We descended toward our target with increasing speed. Things hummed slightly and I began to decelerate. I must have hit the atmosphere. Each pod had a heat shield to avoid burning up during atmosphere entry. Then, an explosion erupted nearby. One of the pods must have been destroyed. My pod was vibrating maniacally. Suddenly, there was a thump and inertia put me down hard. Thanks to the restraint I had I kept my balance. I must have been on the surface. I heard bullets ping off my pod. I looked around my pod and decided it was time. I swapped my SR-4 with my SMG-56. Then I reached forward and slammed the red release button. Bullets zoomed by as the seal ejected.

  I leaped out and darted for a rock. One of the Marines went down. I looked frantically around. I fired well-aimed bursts at several enemies, dropping them. Then I continued for some cover. I dove for the ground and slid behind cover. Then fire came from my side of the rock. The Vorgians had us surrounded. I hastily dealt with the Vorgians that I could see. More bullets pattered the ground around me. I searched the area. The closest Marine was Corporal Metternich. I dashed in his direction when a Vorgian Sparker rocket erupted on top of him. I noticed a machinegun position on a surrounding hillside. I blasted the position with the rest of my clip. Then I slapped forty more rounds into the SMG.

  I saw a drop pod that was still closed, that meant either its contents were dead or it was Max. As I approached within twenty meters the words PSC Maxwell Pippin appeared over the pod.

  “Great,” I mumbled turning and silencing another Vorgian.

  Finally I saw a hole in the Vorgian blockade. I charged for it. My tactical display showed a friendly behind me. I turned my head back as I climbed the side of a five-meter cliff. It was Nevin Poffinbarger.

  “Hurry Nevin!” I called.

  “I’m coming James, hold on.”

  My head reached the top of the cliff and I pulled myself up. I crouched down to one knee and fired, several Vorgians dropped. I was getting better… I could feel it. My hit/miss ratio had improved dramatically since Enphuerzo.

  Then, Nevin’s head popped over the cliff and he pulled himself up. I scanned the area looking for our path to Epsilon.

  “I think it’s that way,” Nevin said pointing straight ahead.

  “Agreed,” I answered as we charged in that direction.

  As we ran, Ryan’s voice came on the power armor’s built-in COM link, “Rangers! Get to target Epsilon, I repeat, regroup at target Epsilon.”

  Nevin and I continued to run for two minutes. Then, our path narrowed because of two tall cliffs. The canyon descended about fifteen meters from ground level and it had a gradual decline. At the far end of the canyon were at least two machinegun positions. They were rather far away.

  “Nevin…you see that?”

  “Yup,” he said.

  I lay down to avoid detection.

  “Lets surprise ’em,” I ordered.

  “Kay,” he responded as he also lay down. I pulled out my SR-4 and took aim at the target on the left.

  “You get the gunner on the right,” I whispered.

  He nodded and we both checked our targets.

  “Now.”

  Two shots rang out. Both gunners fell over simultaneously. I swept the area with my Oracle Long Range Scope. The SR-4 worked well with many scopes. I had a 20x Oracle Long Range Scope, two-tier 6x/12x scope, and a three-tier 2x/5x/10x scope on my person, but often preferred the Oracle to any other.

  “Looks clear…” I mumbled.

  “I agree,” Nevin said. We crawled forward several meters and then rose. We hurried through the canyon, halfway through, machine gun fire opened up. I jumped backwards and fell on my back. I dropped my SR-4 and whipped out my H-81. I saw the gunner hidden in a small cave. I popped off nine rounds as fast as I could and the gunfire ceased.

  “Phew...” Nevin sighed as he stood up.

  “Hidden in that cave, we couldn’t have seen him from back there,” I said pointing a thumb at the canyon’s entrance.

  I picked up my SR-4, brushed it off, and then reloaded and holstered my H-81.

  “Let’s go,” I ordered.

  We resumed our trek towards target Epsilon. Ryan’s voice once again came over the intercom, “Our ETA is in twelve minutes. It’s me, Max, and most of Second Squad. We lost four guys in the drop and the fight directly after landing, Phil… James… Nevin…” He paused, “ I hope to see ya there.”

  I wanted to respond, but I couldn’t. Most COM units were bulky, but Ryan’s armor had a smaller prototype COM unit. It was expensive and there were few in existence. Hence they were only issued to the commander’s armor.

  “I think we could get to the target in eight minutes…” Nevin said. “If I remember right about how this location compares to it.”

  “Yah...” I agreed.

  We ran as fast as we could toward our destination.

  Then I saw it. The white orb appeared on my TacMap. It took us nine minutes, but we made it.

  “Let’s go,” I said as the armor’s speakers let my words escape.

  We approached the door and leaned up against
the wall on either side of the door. I pulled out my breaching charge. It was given to us specifically for this mission. All of us had one, but just one. This excluded Ryan, who being our explosives expert, had four. I put it on the door and set the timer to five seconds. I instantly was back up against the wall. It exploded, expelling a column of flame. Immediately three crimson dots lit on my motion tracker. Nevin and I slipped through the door and let our SMG’s send bullets across the room. Two dots went black and faded. The other one jerked and the stopped, simply fading off my tracker. We advanced cautiously and I signaled for Nevin to cover one side of a piece of equipment. I moved around the other and fired. A Vorgian grew still as the bullets impacted. I gave Nevin the thumbs-up for all clear.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “We wait for Phil...” I answered.

  No sooner had I answered, nearly twenty new contacts appeared as they came into range.

  “Uh-oh,” I said, reloading my weapons. “They should have to use that door to get in.”

  “Yup,” Nevin agreed. We scooted several desks into a line and overturned them. The metal desks were heavy, sufficiently so I probably couldn’t have lifted them without my armor. Once they were positioned, I crouched behind one and aimed my SMG at the door. The red dots came closer and closer.

  Then, the door sprang open and Vorgian base personnel and Marines came out. I immediately took aim and fired while Nevin panicked and sprayed the entire area with rounds. They dropped fast but there were still many left. A crewman jumped out with a pistol and fired several rounds. They dented my armor, but didn’t pass through it. I returned additional fire, dropping the crewman and a soldier. I pulled my head down behind the cover of the desk. I pulled out a fragmentation grenade, activated it, and tossed it into the doorway. A deafening explosion roared as the grenade detonated. The last four crimson dots faded black and then disappeared all together. I peeked up over the desk.

  I gave Nevin a thumbs-up and said, “Clear.”

  “Intense,” he responded.

  “Let’s go were they came from,” I suggested.

  “But what if the rest of the team gets back?” he asked.

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “Uh… You wait here… I’ll see if I can find something.”

  I took off through the door and barreled down the vacant halls. I finally found a room labeled as Ops Center. It was open from its recent abandonment. In their haste they had left the door open. I walked in, glancing at several screens. Suddenly I was interrupted by Ryan’s voice over the COM.

  “This is Ryan! We have a slight delay!” he yelled over the sounds of explosions and gunfire. “A Vorgian platoon was entrenched on our path. We were almost clear, when a dropship produced another platoon. I dunno how they all squeezed on, but they sure did. We aren’t clear yet so I don’t have an ETA… Over,” Ryan finished, cutting the COM.

  I looked around the room and observed each of the consoles. One of them flashed several green dots on a map. I moved close and discovered that is was an old TRIAD display. Each of the four green dots were labeled as Wildcat Support Dropships.

  “Prex…” I cursed.

  I comprehended what this meant. They had major reinforcements inbound, and we had two soldiers. Our Corsair Heavy Assault Dropships could carry one platoon, or eighteen people. The older Wildcat Dropships normally sustained twelve people, or two squads. But Ryan’s COM had told me that they were flying eighteen around on those things.

  The first two were labeled with two minute ETA’s while the other two were eight minutes. I quickly looked around the room. I saw a map of the building posted on the wall. I searched for an armory. Then I saw it. It was only a few halls away. I darted for the armory as fast as I could, hoping for something strong enough to give us an upper hand. I arrived in less than a minute. The door was open, like the Ops Center. The base personnel must have stopped by for those weapons. I saw two machinegun turrets and a fusion cannon.

  The fusion cannon was capable of several levels of spread and ammo consumption. It could be fired with a shotgun-like spread or as small as an AR’s spread. In addition it could fire one, five, ten, or twenty-five rounds at a time. To use it effectively the burst size needs to be considered in comparison to spread. With an AR spread, anything more than five was a waste and with a shotgun spread, anything less than ten was too little to matter. It fires small pellets that run through catalyst material when fired. It causes a chemical reaction, igniting it to a superheated state. It does wonders for melting things. It had a magazine box on the bottom that contained a thousand tiny pellets. The pellets are actually smaller than most bullets, allowing more shots to be carried. Our machinegun belts only held three hundred rounds and were slightly larger.

  I didn’t know how the Vorgians had managed to get a fusion cannon, but I grabbed it and a machinegun and carried the heavy load back to Nevin. I reached Nevin within forty-five seconds, despite the weight of the weapons.

  “Dude,” I panted.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Vorgians will show up any second now, a whole lot of ‘em!”

  “Whoa!” he exclaimed, as if he had thought we’d stay clear.

  We quickly set up both turrets and pointed at the door. Luckily it was as simple as spreading the tripod and swiveling the gun. Just after we finished setting up the turrets, I heard the roar of a dropship. Then I heard voices as the dropship's engines faded. They grew louder as they approached. I tightened my grip on the fusion cannon. I didn’t know how to adjust its blast radius. I simply hoped it wasn’t too big.

  The first pair of Vorgians appeared at the door, Nevin let loose heavy fire with his machinegun. Then more soldiers arrived at the door. I pulled the dual trigger, releasing superheated waves of pellets. The Vorgians instantly vanished, taking the rim of the doorway with them. The stream of Vorgians had stopped momentarily. They probably had just realized that the base they were reinforcing was held by hostiles. Which of course was our doing. I had a short sense of pride for the effectiveness of our position, but then I remembered how much could still go wrong.

  Outside I could hear yelling, so I listened intently to catch what they were saying.

  “There has to be at least a squad!”

  “How have they captured the base so fast?”

  “Let's try a grenade.”

  Then one appeared at the door grenade in hand. I fired the cannon and heard the grenade pop as it and the Vorgian were melted by the wave of superheated fusion pellets. Then, an assault rifle poked around the melted opening of the doorway. Nevin opened fire but the gun retracted to the other side of the wall. I turned the cannon and fired at the wall. It, and any Vorgians leaning against it, were gone. Another few came out and met the same fate. Nevin’s machinegun had proven effective, but not nearly effective as the fusion cannon.

  “We’ve probably beaten at least half the platoon,” I said quietly.

  “Yeah,” Nevin sighed. “You have.”

  “Right,” I chuckled. “I just have a better gun. Now focus.”

  I then glanced at my motion tracker, “Prex!” I yelled as I whirled around to see two Vorgians with combat knifes charging at me.

  I couldn’t turn the turret backwards fast enough so I pulled my H-81 and pulled the trigger as fast as I could. I emptied the whole fifteen round magazine, though both Vorgians collapsed on the ground. Only then did I fully realize that their combat knives wouldn’t have had much effect on my battle armor, unless they targeted a soft spot.

  “Wow James...” Nevin stated, “Fast reflexes!”

  I merely smiled in response, slightly relieved by his uplifting comment. I reloaded my H-81 and looked around the room.

  “Apparently there’s another entrance,” I murmured.

  I returned my H-81 to its holster and picked up the turret. It was unwieldy since its tripod was still extended. I didn’t worry about it firing accidentally; it had two triggers, one aft-port and one aft-starboard. Both had to be squeezed to fire.
>
  I set the turret back down and scanned the room. It had a field of fire that covered both doors.

  “Nevin, keep your eye on that door,” I said, “and I’ll keep mine on their back door.”

  “Okay!” Nevin responded plainly.

  We waited there for at least three minutes, ominously uncontested.

  “Where is that other dropship?” I asked.

  “I dunno, go check,” Nevin said.

  “Will you be okay?” I asked.

  “I’ll be fine, just go!” Nevin shouted.

  “Okay, Okay,” I said as I darted back through the door. I tried to remember where the Ops Center was and after what seemed like a three-minute search, I barreled into the Ops Center. I moved over to the TRIAD console, finding that the other two Wildcat dropships had broke off and were not heading for this base.

  “We must’ve scared ’em off,” I chuckled to myself.

  I turned around and started my run back to Nevin’s position.

  “Nevin!” I said as I went through the door.

  “Yes?” Ryan answered.

  “They’re here,” Nevin said excitedly.

  Ryan, Phil, Max, and Second Squad all stood in the room with Nevin.

  “Do you have the intel?” I asked.

  “No, Nev said you would know where to find the console,” Phil answered.

  “Oh, of course!” I said, “I just came from there.”

  “I know,” Nevin answered.

  “All right, let’s go,” I responded.

  We went back down those same halls. Finally, we were back in the Ops Center. Phil observed the room thoughtfully.

  “Ah-ha,” he said suddenly.

  Then he walked over to one of the room’s consoles. He began to press buttons and then inserted the data chip.

  ”Just a few minutes,” Phil informed us.

  “You better be fast,” Ryan said as he began to set up the Eupholium.

  We waited several minutes.

  “It’s almost completed the transfer…” Phil said. “Done!”

  “Let’s go.”

  Ryan moved over to the Eupholium and hit a button.