The Battle of Titan

by Sudipto Majumdar

  “Aye sir, loud and clear.” Roberts replied.

  “Now use the bayonet thrust only to keep the alien at bay, and to give him something to think about. Do not try to push in to kill it. That is for this baby to accomplish.” Takamori patted the ceremonial sword hanging by his belt.

  Takamori was from a long line of accomplished warriors. His family could trace their ancestry to a famous samurai clan. He bore the last name of one of the most famous samurai in Japan, who was regarded as the last samurai to die in battle in Japan barely 200 years ago.

  He had wondered since childhood about his legendary ancestors, and what it would feel like descending into battle with nothing but your steel in your hand. What it would be to become one with your sword, to trust your life to it.

  He had practiced all his life in the art of swordsmanship, not as a warrior, but as a devotee practicing his faith. Today he will come to know what his ancestors felt like, and whether he was worthy of them.

  Takamori let Alex in on his plan and asked him to keep his eyes open for any opportunity that might present itself, due to his actions or otherwise. As the two of them dropped into the trench, it became clear that Takamori’s hunch had been right.

  The trench seem to follow the outer wall of the habitat, and it was comfortable for the two of them to run comfortably side by side, even in their suits, but would be a squeeze for two Shaitans to pass each other.

  The Shaitans definitely had a keen sense of either sound or something else, because they knew who was coming along the trench even before Roberts and Takamori could see the first one coming in.

  The mild vibration of the ground, which was the thunder of multiple Shaitans marching down the trench even in this weak gravity, was a testament to their bulk, and the only warning the humans got before the first Shaitan was upon them.

  The alien launched itself with all the momentum it could gather running in a curved trench, which thankfully was not much, but its bulk made up for it. It had extended two of its six limbs in a spear fashion with three inch metal blades at the end of each limb clearly visible. It is not possible to duck very fast in the low gravity of Titan, so Roberts slammed himself laterally into the wall of the trench on his back.

  The outstretched limb with its razor sharp metal claws scraped his helmet, missing him narrowly. At the same time he raised his bayonet with all the might he could, puncturing the suit of the alien at the limb and finding its flesh, but did not have enough leverage to dig deep into it.

  Takamori had stood his ground, still and Zen like. As the limb approached somewhere close to his throat to impale it, he used his entire body to twist and bear its entire strength to slash at the limb in classic samurai style.

  It is said that a well-made Katana (samurai sword) in the hands of a worthy warrior can cut the human body, muscles, bones and all into half with the proper application of technique. The alien limb was not as thick as a human body, and it had no bones.

  The limb didn’t stand a chance. It cut neatly into two halves and the alien reared up probably in pain on its last two limbs. It did not go down or even slow down. It rebalanced itself on three limbs now, using the wall of the trench as a support and surrogate for a missing limb and struck out again with two limbs.

  This time Roberts was ready and slapped the limb thrust towards him sideways with his bayonet. He was not even trying to injure the arm this time. He had seen Takamori’s Katana do the damage, and was happy to let him do more of the same. He simply slapped the limb to direct the thrust away from his body, and as a bonus inflict a small rip in the suit limb.

  Takamori was getting into rhythm. He swung with a reverse slash followed by a two handed thrust in the classic samurai style. He had managed to go under the outstretched limb while making the thrust and impaled the limb in an upward slant, such that the tip of the sword exited from the upper part of the alien’s limb very near the base.

  Even a sturdy Shaitan had its limits to what it could take. It was not dead. It didn’t even show any signs of dying, but it retreated back elongating into an egg shape from its normal circular shape, so that the Shaitan behind him could squeeze past by forming into a similar egg shape.

  The moment the fresh Shaitan was in the fore, it changed back to its normal circular shape and started the same maneuvers as the previous one to be met with the same fate. Roberts was getting better with each parry and thrust at evading, slapping the limb with his bayonet or muzzle of the gun, or simply stabbing the limb.

  Takamori on the other hand was never in any danger of getting the claws of the alien anywhere near him. Every move he made from a slash, thrust or even a simple duck was poetry in motion. Effortless and flawless.

  This alien was not so lucky to be able to withdraw. The Shaitan was trying to rebalance itself on three limbs, after suffering a severe cut on one of its limbs from Takamori’s sword, it left a part of its body exposed.

  Takamori made one swift and graceful hammer like blow with the curved part of his Katana. It cut through a huge chunk of its body. The moment the suit on his main body was ruptured, it started thrashing incoherently, which the humans had come to recognize as their death throes. This alien was in no state to gracefully withdraw in an egg shape, it was flailing its limbs in a frenzy, not giving the Shaitan behind it to have a chance to fight.

  Both the humans took advantage of this pause to step back and catch a breath, which was good thing because the Shaitan behind had grown impatient and had jumped over his dying comrade. In this low gravity it was no big deal, but if the humans had been forward, then the jumping Shaitan would have landed behind them and could have stabbed them at the back.

  Now however the humans were perfectly placed, where the alien flew right over them. None of the two soldiers was going to let such a perfect change go. The strained every muscles in the legs to spring up explosively with their bayonet and sword raised up.

  Both the Katana and the Bayonet, impaled the Shaitan as deep as it could go before it was stopped by the grip of the sword and the gun. The two then strained every muscles in their arms to push the alien further upwards, freeing their weapons and pushing themselves down.

  The alien seem to go up and up. Roberts kept a wary eye over the flying alien at the back, but it was clear that its fight was over, while Takamori kept his eyes ahead, where the next alien was trying to squeeze past the still frenzied and dying alien.

  Seeing that there was a lull for a few seconds, Takamori slapped his com knob on his helmet. “Takamori to Alex. This tactic works, although it is done best with swords, but bayonets would do fine. Any change in the status of the rest of the enemy line?”

  “Alex to Takamori. No change in status, although I see them bunching up a bit towards your side.”

  Takamori replied quickly as he saw the next alien almost through past the dying one. “Then I suggest you start same tactics on the other end of the trench and send us some fresh pair of hands, this is exhausting.”

  Thus started a grimy and exhausting hand to hand combat on two sides of the trench with two pairs of soldier on each side taking turns every few minutes. They were not trying to slaughter fifty aliens with their bare hands, but every now and then an alien or two would jump out of the trench, only to be surrounded by 8-10 soldiers above and massacred.

  The humans had taken casualties on their sides, but none that should be fatal, unlike the three alien bullet casualties, who had little hope, if they were not dead already. Alex was not sure how long they had been fighting thus or how many aliens they had killed with their hands, but suddenly he heard a rumble.

  It sounded like a herd of buffaloes stampeding, but doing it softly. As if on cue all the Shaitans in the trench, jumped out of the trench together and started running away. It was as if someone had sounded the retreat order, and it was the signal the aliens were waiting for to run away from the battlefield.

  This did not make sense. The aliens had shown the temperament to fight till the last, why would they suddenly tur
n cowards? The answer came in the form of a further portion of the trench exploding with the noise of the rumble turning into a roar. He realized what the rumble he had been hearing was.

  It was the stampede of aliens rushing out of the habitat passageways. They exploded and jumped out of the trench into the open, and kept on running. Alex realized then that the alien fighters were not running away from the humans, they were running away from the alien habitat itself!

  He even saw a few of the aliens without a suit coming out! How could they expect to stay alive outside? What the hell was happening in the habitat, which drove them out without a suit? Alex was wondering about it, when he heard a muffled explosion.

  The explosion was definitely happening inside, but close to the surface somewhere. Not near where he was. He shouted on the public channel. “Everybody out of the trenches now, and get some distance from the habitat.

  Things are exploding inside, and if the aliens are scared to run without suits, it must be serious. They must be having a nuclear power plant inside, we don’t know what is damaged inside.”

  Takamori was about to jump out of the trenches, when on a thought he went to the nearest fallen alien. It was not completely dead yet, since it was still feebly moving around its limbs. With a swift and strong slash he cut one of its limbs very near the base.

  The severed limb was still wriggling autonomously like the severed tail of a lizard. He loosened his belt, put the limb behind his back and tightened the belt to secure it on his back. Then he followed the rest of his men back.

  He realized he needed to give them a rally point where they could all gather. Alpha – 1 had left their snowmobiles further away from the alien habitat, and hence was a better place to gather. He announced on the public channel.

  “Takamori to all. Takamori to all. Gather at the snowmobile parking location of Alpha – 1. Repeat. Gather at the snowmobile parking location of Alpha – 1. Pierre, Gustav drive the snowmobiles of Alpha – 2 over to Alpha – 1 parking spot. This is our rally point. Roberts start a headcount for Alpha – 2 and make sure everyone including the casualties are accounted for. Alex I suggest you get the same done for Alpha – 1 marines. Takamori out.”

  Alex was instructing Sergio, Alpha – 1’s senior NCO about the head count when the public channel burst out with Cheng’s voice.

  “Cheng here. We are alive. Please acknowledge. Repeat. Cheng here. We are alive. Please acknowledge.” Cheng sounded desperate, exhausted and at the breaking point.

  Alex was so excited to hear Cheng’s voice, that he forgot protocol, which dictated Takamori answering. He also forgot military niceties of rank. “Cheng thank god, it is so good to hear your voice. Where are you? My HUD shows you are somewhere on the middle of the habitat. Are you on the roof?”

  “I am happier than you can imagine to hear your and the Major’s voice Alex.” Cheng replied clearly having forgotten formalities in his relief. “We are not on the roof yet, but we hope to be there soon. We think we have found a way out. I will talk to you in a moment, hopefully from the outside.”

  By the time Cheng reported they were out and running towards the rally point, the soldiers had done the unpleasant task of tying their three dead comrades on the footboard of the snowmobiles. It was the only place available, now that they had three extra passengers in an already tight snowmobile.

  They traveled the first few kilometers in complete silence, numb with shock from the combat and the loss of their friends. Alex did not even care which direction they were going, as long as they were going away from that cursed alien habitat. Takamori could not indulge in the luxury of mourning yet, such was the burden of command. He got in touch with the base to get a sit rep.

  The shuttle had managed to go a fair distance towards the human base before crashing approximately 30 Km away from it. The pilot and the gunner were alive as they managed some semblance of a landing on a flat patch of ice, but the pilot is injured seriously, and needed immediate evacuation.

  They had taken all the four available snowmobiles, so they could not be evacuated by the base. To make matters worse. There were 8 civilian scientists standing 20 Km from the alien base in potential danger. Even if the aliens did not find them, they will run out of suit power, if left there, and freeze to death.

  The base had asked for shuttle support from Charles Martell for evacuation. The captain had ordered the launch sequence for the shuttle. It will start from the ship in another 10 minutes. It will first head directly to the downed shuttle, evacuate the injured soldier and the pilot first and then return to the 20 Km mark to pick up the rest.

  They were advised to meet up at the 20 Km point along with the civilians and await pick up. When they met up with the 8 civilians, it was a quiet reunion. No one felt like speaking. They just helped tend the wounded and exhausted soldiers as best as they could in their suits, standing in the open on Titan.

  About 10 minutes after the soldiers had reached the 20 Km point, Takamori got a nervous call from the base control. “Major, there seems to be some issue, and I cannot figure out what. The shuttle should have left Charles Martell long time ago. It should have been reaching the downed shuttle by now. It has not left, and Charles Martell is not replying.”

  Takamori was puzzled, tired and irritated. “What do you mean not replying?” Takamori asked incredulously.

  “It is exactly what I mean sir. Our repeated hails on all radio frequencies voice, video and text are being met with silence. I mean radio silence. It is not simply that they are not replying. There is no radio transmission at all from Charles Martell.” Came the reply from the base.

  Takamori was getting more irritated by the minute. “Then contact the Friendship and ask them to make contact, or send a shuttle for god’s sake. The pilot needs immediate attention!”

  There was a tone of alarm in the replying voice. “Major I have tried hailing USS Friendship and the Jiānjué. There is exactly the same radio silence from all three of the ships. You know sir what that means.”

  It was now the turn of Takamori to get alarmed. This can mean only one thing. The alien ship had returned. Radio silence with the ground was part of the pre-arranged protocol, worked out in the last few days by the captains of the ships.

  The captains would assess the situation in space, till things get clear. If things turn out friendly, which now seemed unlikely, they would re-establish contact. If things turned out hostile, then they would refrain from communicating with the base. It was in the hope that if the base had not yet been detected by the alien ship, it would prevent the human base from being bombarded from space. The captains would reopen communication with the surface in case of hostilities, only after they have either defeated the enemy ship, or the last ship was dying.

  “How many people can this snowmobile carry?” Takamori asked base control.

  “One moment sir, Kaminski is in the module, let me ask him”. After a few seconds of pause, base control continued. “Major, Kaminski says that the snowmobile has enough power and traction to carry even thirty people here on Titan, as long as you can fit them on it.”

  That was a typical Kaminski reply, but it was good enough. Alex indicated to Takamori through gesture that he would handle this. “Base control, could you please compute the optimal route from our position to the downed shuttle and upload it to us ASAP? Once you have done that, please start an optimal route calculation from the downed shuttle to the base.” Alex said to base control.

  “Yes sir, we already anticipated that contingency once Charles Martell stopped responding. We have calculated the path, and it is available on you HUD right now as a new option in the maps section. Please note that the topography has not been visually surveyed. It is radar information and may not be accurate.

  You might find a ravine or a lake blocking your way, where the map might show none. I would like you to be in touch whenever you find an obstacle. We can work out alternatives from here. Some of the alternative routes have already been uploaded, but if we know wher
e the path is blocked, we can compute from that point and give you a more optimal route.” The base control replied.

  Alex was impressed by the efficiency of the base control in having anticipated the contingency. “Thanks and well done. We will be in touch.” They squeezed in the extra passengers and started the journey.

  Once they got off the plateau where the aliens had chosen to construct their camp, the going was neither easy nor fast, and they had to take many round about. It took them over three hours to reach the crashed shuttle.

  The pilot was alive but in a bad condition. Fortunately for them, there were no major obstacles between the crash site and the human camp. They were able to make it back from the crash site in about half an hour at top speed, and the doctor at the camp gave the chances of survival of the pilot as fair.

  Chapter 23

  The battle over Titan

  Daniel could not help but feel frustrated. He had always led from the front. He had always been the first in the line, facing danger. He did everything that he asked the men under his command to do. Yet here he was, sitting in what has turned out to be the safest part of the mission, completely uneventful, while the men under his command on the surface below were not just facing danger, but fighting and dying. He wanted to be with them. Assess the situation for himself.

  Maybe he could have made a difference down below. Maybe he could have avoided the misunderstanding, and the subsequent bloodshed. Perhaps he would have done something different, which would have prevented the situation from spiraling out of control, as it seems to be happening now.

  We have surely made enemies out of the Shaitans. It need not have been not be so. If we could not be friends, we could have co-existed. If they want Titan, let them have it. We have no use for it. It is not as if they have come invading earth.

  Daniel caught himself, and gave a mental rap on his own knuckles. He was committing the worst sin a commanding officer can do. Not having confidence in his subordinates, and trying to second guess the decision of the man on the ground.