The Battle of Titan

by Sudipto Majumdar

  Once Daniel was inside the hut, he was quickly filled in on what had happened in the human camp since the battle in space. After that everyone was curious about what had happened to USS Friendship, and how they had survived. Could they now return back to earth on the ship please?

  Daniel took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “The quick short answer to your questions is no. We cannot return back on USS Friendship. The Friendship is dead in space and the fact that we are alive, is a matter of tremendous luck and valiant efforts from my crew.” That brought back the gloom in the room. Everyone’s face went long as they looked down immersed in their private thoughts.

  Finally it was Jorge who spoke up. “So how did you survive and make your way to the surface captain?”

  Daniel settled down to tell the story of how the electronics of the entire ship was fried due to EMP. Their initial struggle with trying to keep the ship warm. How the overrode the electronic controls to heaters and managed to switch on a few electrical appliances to keep the ship going into deep freeze.

  “We realized fairly early on, that the ship was really dead and overriding a few functions manually will only delay the inevitable.” Daniel continued. “So once we had gotten over the immediate survival problem, we concentrated on escape, which meant being able to take the shuttle to the surface. Our only hope was this camp, where we could hope to survive long enough for any chance of rescue.

  Our first problem was access to the shuttle itself. Unlike the inner hatches, which we could override manually by cutting through the panels next to them and rewiring them, it was not so simple in case of the shuttle bay.” Daniel paused as he recollected his struggles along with that of the crew.

  “The shuttle bay is open to space, so there is an airlock in between. The airlocks are constructed completely differently. They are far more complicated and far more robust to simply cut through. It was also a dangerous operation. If we vented the atmosphere by accident then we would have no way of replenishing it again.

  If the shuttle was not immediately operable, then we would be dead. So we took many days to slowly work through the airlock. We would close the inside hatch just before the airlock, and isolate two people at a time in suits, anchored with safety harness and slowly try to work through the airlock wearing thick gloves.

  It took us over 10 days to just get the airlock working manually, all the while struggling to keep the ship warm enough not to freeze and die, and continuously scrubbing CO2 manually. We were now into our reserve oxygen supply.

  When we were finally able to access the shuttle, we found as we had expected that the electronics of the shuttle had also been fried. It took us nearly three weeks more to be able to get manual control over the thrusters and the wings and aileron control for atmospheric flight. By the end, we were living inside our suits as the oxygen had completely depleted and we were down to the last few bottles of O2 even for our suits.

  We had no automated navigation, and the reentry angle would have to be judged through mechanical instruments, and once in the atmosphere, we would have to navigate visually. Titan does not even have a decent magnetic field to use a manual compass, if we had one in the first place.

  Our chances of making it to the camp were very low, but it was still better than a certain death in the ship. So we took the chance and fortunately made it, although the reentry was particularly rough, and for a moment I thought we would not make it.” Daniel was sitting on the floor and now looked spent after narrating his harrowing story. He looked like the man who had spent the last month fighting to survive and staring at death every moment.

  “Well we are glad you made it captain, and you have brought us a source of energy supply which will allow us to recharge our suits and probably buy us a few more hours, which might make all the difference.” Alex said, trying to comfort a tired looking Daniel.

  Daniel smiled and said to everyone in the tiny room. “We got more than that. We were just seven people, and the shuttle can carry three times that. We loaded the shuttle with anything we could get our hands on and thought might be useful. We were even preparing to start base on our own, in case we could not find your base. We have a generator and fuel, food, water and weapons.”

  That got Alex’s interest and he asked. “Weapons did you say? What kind of weapons?”

  “Everything that was left on the ship. We emptied the entire armory locker. We wanted to take precaution just in case we ended up somewhere near the aliens, and they tracked our landing. We got three Skag sub-machine guns, same as you marines, and all the bullets you left. I think 5 or 6 crates of them. There are a few frag grenades as well. We left the rest of the stuff. They had electronics in them which were fried, so they were useless anyway.” Daniel said matter of factly.

  Alex’s heart leapt with joy, and he looked at Takamori and Cheng, who reflected his own feelings. Before any of them could say anything, they were surprised by Mr. Gupta who spoke up from behind where he had been working on his task. “That is not the only piece of good news you have brought captain. Your shuttle has literally brought salvation for me and particularly Sasha.”

  Every one turned to look at Gupta to figure out what he meant, so Gupta continued hastily. “Your shuttle is lined with lead fabric to insulate it from space radiation. I should have realized it earlier, but the good doctor is too concerned about me, and the medicines have made my mind a bit slow.” He turned and smiled towards the medic to let him know that he was not complaining and appreciated his efforts.

  “If we could tear down the lead lined fabric carefully and fold it into multiple layers, I think we will have a thick enough lead lining to protect Sasha from radiation. Since it is a fabric, it should be fairly easy to stick it to Sasha’s suit reliably without hampering his movements too much.” Gupta concluded.

  That brightened everyone and filled people with enthusiasm. “Then what are we waiting for, let’s get this thing done.” Said Jorge as he started putting on his helmet and heading towards the airlock. Others were following suit, eager to help in some way.

  It took over three hours to strip the shuttle off enough lead lined fabric for Mr. Gupta to be satisfied, and another hour for the expert knife work of one of the marines to cut and fold it into right size pieces. They glued it to the surface of one of an unused suits using Gupta’s foam. The suit had become stiff but was workable.

  Sasha was able to go in and confirm his suspicion about the damage to the reactor. It took them further 18 hours to repair the damage and get the reactor online again. They would have run out of battery power despite scavenging for batteries from other habitats, had it not been for the constant recharge supplied by the shuttle.

  Within another six hours they had one of the least damaged habitat sealed and airtight once again. They were able to flush the atmosphere from the habitat and filled with oxygen easily now with abundant power available once again. They would still be cramped with just one hut and one habitat module running, but they were on their way to recovery. There were so few of them left, that they didn’t need to repair all the damaged habitats.

  Takamori called a meeting of the three commanders as well as Daniel in the hut, which they had now taken over for military use. They had brought in the ammo crates here, inventoried it, along with the number of guns they had left, matched bullets and allocated ammo to each gun.

  Thankfully the mission planners had been able to agree on a few things before they started the mission, and one of them was to use the same caliber bullets in all their guns. This made it possible for the Chinese and the European guns to use the bullets as well.

  “Gentlemen we now have to take a decision.” Takamori started once all four of them were settled on the floor. “We can all wait for the aliens to rebuild and attack us once more and probably wipe us out, or we attack now and take a shot at returning the favor to them. I am personally in favor of the later course of action.”

  Alex and Cheng indicated that they were also in favor of the same, but Daniel a
sked. “I know I am new here and perhaps don’t know the situation on the ground that well, but are you certain that they will build up another army and launch an attack?”

  The other three men looked at each other, but it was left to Alex to speak to his compatriot, technically Alex’s superior and the head of the US mission.

  “Sir, you have heard the military and common sense logic as also the analysis from alien shrinks and experts like Dr. Sterner and Dr. Manning. However there is a gut feel understanding of the enemy, any soldier gets by fighting them.

  I am sure as a fellow warrior you would empathize with this feeling and perhaps have had it sometime in your career as well. The three of us have fought these aliens enough to not just come to an opinion about how they would behave, but all the three of us have come to the exact same opinion.”

  Takamori added to Alex’s argument. “To answer your specific question Capt. Cloutier, we are not sure of the exact preparations they may be making right now. We are not sure of their modus operandi. What we are certain about is their intentions.

  It is possible that this time they may be reprocessing some of the nuclear fuel if they have a fission reactor to make a nuke to level us. It is possible that they are making a smaller number of more lethal and effective warriors to attack us. It is possible that they are making chemical or biological agents to wipe us out.

  Or they may be planning a way to attack us, which humans cannot even conceive. What I can say with certainty is that they are planning their next attack, and the odds are hugely stacked that the attack would be before the eleven odd months that it would take for our rescue to arrive.”

  Cheng decided to add his tactical thinking to the argument. “Right now we are weak, but so are they. They have spent most if not all of the army they had raised. Our camp is thrashed and we are not going to get any stronger as time progresses. Their camp however is more or less intact and they are going to get progressively stronger.

  To my mind, the balance of power may have tipped in our favor, the moment you arrived. It did not just deliver seven more fighting men to our strength, but also delivered us a strategic advantage – your shuttle. We have seen how effective the shuttle was outside the alien camp last time. It is the ideal platform to deliver huge volumes of firepower into the heart of the enemy.

  We don’t have the same machine gun mounted on this shuttle granted, but this time the enemy does not have any bullets to shoot down the shuttle either. I doubt that they have managed to manufacture any bullets, else they would have used it during their assault on our camp. Their bullets are deadly. A single shot is sure death for a human, and the intelligent aliens also know it. They would have used it if they had it.”

  Daniel nodded and replied. “All right I will go along with your assessment gentlemen. After all you are the people on the ground. So now we have to start planning the assault.”

  The four warriors started their assault planning, which went on for hours.

  Chapter 34

  Survival of the fittest

  Ramesh had gotten his wish. He was here standing in the front of the assault. He would be one of the first to kill the aliens and if necessary die in this final battle to the death with the Shaitans. He was paired with Leanna. All civilians had been paired with a professional soldier. Despite being a man, he was a head shorter than Leanna, but the hatred burning inside this diminutive man could singe anyone who came in his path.

  After hours of planning and debates, the human commanders had come up with was simple plan. Deceptively simple some might say. They had to keep their plan simple anyway. Half of the people fighting were civilians, fewer things could go wrong that way. The only thing that required timing, would be the signal Alex would radio to the shuttle, which is what he was considering right now.

  The logic for their plan was very simple. Cheng had fought inside the alien camp and knew that humans would be at a disadvantage there. They did not know the terrain inside but the aliens did. It was dark inside and humans can’t see properly there, but the aliens are perfectly comfortable there. The aliens can navigate the narrow passages much better, including hanging upside down and attacking from top.

  In the open ice plain however the humans were on an equal footing, and they had an ace up their sleeve which they could bring to play here – their shuttle. They had noticed that the Shaitans had come out of their habitat both the times the humans had approached it, and tried to defend it. It was a logical defense doctrine, which humans would also follow. So they hoped that the aliens will stick to this pattern once more.

  Twenty humans in four snowmobiles had approached the camp at a slow and visible pace. This time however they had not approached the Shaitan camp from their usual direction of a straight line to the human camp.

  In their reconnaissance trip done for mission control, they had noticed that most of the advance trenches had been dug in that direction in anticipation of a direct attack from the most obvious direction. There were fewer advance trenches in other directions. They didn’t want the Shaitans to be spread out in trenches, they wanted them bunched up together in defense.

  As they approached the 500 meter mark, Alex was sure that there would be some Shaitans holed up nearby in the trenches which were near about the 400 meter mark. The humans in the snowmobiles were standing on the seat of the slow moving vehicle to give them a higher vantage point, and using their IR to spot the heat shield of the camouflaged aliens.

  Alex noticed that Shaitans had started pouring out of their habitat and were forming a line of defense around the entrance. They were not yet making an attempt to rush towards the approaching humans. He guessed that there would be about just over a hundred aliens gathered there.

  He broadcast his assessment over the public channel to let everyone know the enemy strength up ahead. “Most probably their exact strength would be 128. That is two to the power seven. It would probably look like a nice round number to them.” Said Ramesh over the com.

  The civilians had been instructed not to fire beyond a distance of 50 meters. They would have lesser chance of hitting their target thus wasting a bullet. The only exception was Sasha Kaminski. He was a better shot than most soldiers.

  When the camouflaged Shaitans were spotted in their trenches, word went out over the com, and ten guns opened up in unison. Eight Shaitans jumped up from their trenches and rushed towards the four approaching snowmobiles. As the aliens drew closer, the civilians added their fire to that of the soldiers. Two of the aliens still managed to reach the snowmobiles.

  Leanna jumped gracefully over the alien, landing on top of it and planting her sword straight through the carapace of the alien in a move she had first used and then perfected in the trenches of Stirling Bridge a few days ago.

  Then with an equally swift jump, she was back inside the snowmobile. Alex could not help but be turned on by the cat like grace of her motion. He had to shake his head, to shake off the thought and concentrate on the job.

  When they were at the 400 meter mark, Alex decided to not cut the timing too thin and signaled the shuttle. The shuttle was waiting ready at the 4 Km mark, but on the opposite side from Alex’s line of approach.

  If the aliens waiting at the entrance stood their ground, then the shuttle will reach them before Alex reached the aliens. If the aliens decided to rush them, then Alex and his team will have to fight alone for a few seconds before the aerial support reached them.

  In the end, the waiting aliens rushed forward when Alex had reached the 100 meter mark, so that the shuttle reached exactly at the same time as the aliens started rushing. The twenty humans on the snowmobiles disembarked to get into better firing positions, but did not bother to dive down to lower their profiles. The aliens were not shooting them.

  The alien line was thrown into chaos with the arrival of the shuttle. The engine profile of the US made shuttle was different from the Chinese one. It was far more silent, and did not have a machine gun to open up as it reached near. As a result, sh
uttle was almost on top of the aliens approaching from the opposite side before the aliens noticed it.

  The shuttle had two doors on its two sides, and strapped on each of the door were two soldiers. The four of them opened up by dropping two frag grenades each on top of the massed aliens as the shuttle hovered at a height of 10 meters.

  Then they opened up with their sub machine guns at what is almost point blank range, hitting the vulnerable top part of the aliens. Some of the aliens did try to jump up to reach the shuttle, but couldn’t get higher than six or seven meters, only helping the soldiers to kill them faster.

  The rushing aliens managed to reach the snowmobiles despite the huge amount of firing and a few more grenades having being lobbed at them. The humans had come prepared for this. Their guns were hanging from a lanyard attached to their right shoulder, and they simply let go of their gun to let it hang.

  They reached over their shoulders with their left hand and ripped out the Velcro strapped shield stuck to their back, while using their right hands to rip out the similarly Velcro attached sword from their right hip. It was a move they had all practiced and Leanna, who had been the trainer was proud when she saw that even the civilians were able to perform it smoothly without any panic.

  The job of the twenty humans was not so much to kill the attacking aliens as to stall them, while they bought time for the four gunners from the shuttle above firing continuously to kill each and every one of the Shaitans from top.

  Skilled swordsmen like Takamori and Cheng still managed to kill a few. When the last fifteen or so Shaitans were left still fighting, they heard the voice of the shuttle pilot. “More aliens exiting the camp!”