AL:ICE-9

by Charles Lamb

  The battle plan had 1st platoons three squads spread across the northern half of the circle and 2nd platoons was across the bottom. The two remaining squads from 3rd platoon had its fire teams in the heavy transports, filling the gaps where the 1st and 2nd meet. All the jeeps and carriers were manned by 3rd platoons third squad.

  Once all the troops were deployed, both air transports took positions directly above the target area, hovering silently at about 1,000 feet above ground level. Jake took that as his cue to land, his designated jump-off point at the northern most part of the encirclement.

  Setting down behind the line, he climbed off his cycle and then retrieved his rifle from the box. He then linked up with the fire team that was assigned as his security. He was a bit put off at the concept, but Patti and Sara had insisted on the assignment. At that point, all was ready to go.

  “Ok ALICE, light em up!” Jake ordered.

  On the order, both of the transports hovering over the target area lit up the entire area for blocks with external lighting. Getting the video feed from ALICE, Jake could see several of the men below the transports stirring from their bedrolls. As they did, he saw a few women escape the constraints of their captors and scurry for cover.

  Jake then broadcast, the transports relaying the audio, “This is Colonel Thomas of the 1st Marines. Drop your weapons and return south. Any resistance will be met by lethal force.”

  As expected, the area erupted in gunfire, all directed at the transports 1,000 feet overhead. Again, all part of the plan, the lights were cut and all 1st Marines were given the green light to advance. Rules of engagement were any armed combatants were fair game, should anyone disarm themselves under fire, they were to be spared. Anyone encountered that was unarmed and non-aggressive were to be spared.

  ----*----

  Patti had set up the combat management center with a great deal of attention to detail. Spread out all along one wall were her analysts. Assigned as one analyst per squad, they monitored each fire team and squad leader, their video feed quaded out in their displays. The audio feed for the fire teams and squads were on a different frequency than the command net.

  With this layout, both she and Sara could see all the displays from behind the analysts plus the main feeds overhead, provided by ALICE and a second set of analysts handling the overall situation. With the night vision enabled, they were seeing everything as if in full daylight, with only a very slight graininess to the images. To the untrained eye, it looked to be total chaos.

  As they watched the Marines advance, they fed the teams’ continuous information on enemy concentrations and movement. Several times, they prevented a team from being overrun by redirecting their movement or calling a 10th Calvary trooper in for air cover.

  Suddenly one of the secondary analysts announced, “Patti, we have a large group pushing north for a break out. They are heading straight for the Colonel!”

  ----*----

  Jake was working with his fire team, wading into the mayhem that erupted after the lights went out. He could make out gunfire from all directions, taking several hits himself that felt little more than a punch. Several times, he fired on a group, they themselves shooting in all directions and killing several of their own people.

  He could hear the analysts on the command net, instructing various team leaders on threats in their areas. So far, he hadn’t heard one call for medical assistance. He did find several of the female hostages, huddling in fear as the surrounding gunfire all around them continued. Jake pointed them to the north, and sent them running.

  As they cleared one area and moved on to the next, Jake found several more of the female hostages huddled in a doorway on the street. Grabbing the nearest, he instructed the others to follow and led them to a stairway he had just passed. The first woman followed Jake’s instructions, leading the others down and out of harm’s way.

  Turning, he saw a wall of armed men enveloping his fire team, as he heard on the command net, “Jake, there are a large number of men coming your way!”

  “No shit,” was all he could say as he raised his rifle and started shooting.

  Rushing into the fray, he went full auto in an effort to clear a space around his men. Suddenly everything went bright white, as two of the 10th let loose with their cannons, taking out the largest portion of the group, while knocking Jake and everyone near him to the ground.

  Recovering quickly, he scrambled to his feet, checking on his teammates.

  “Patti, we have two men down. Suits report full containment. I think they may have broken limbs.”

  While the combat suits had many fine qualities, unlike the training pads, you could hyper extend joints or break limbs if hit a certain way. He was sure it was the tradeoff between flexibility vs protection.

  These two had been trampled by the mob, and probably shot several times. He was sure they were also knocked around by the cannon blast, but they would survive.

  Leaving his other two fire team members to watch over the wounded, Jake moved on cautiously.

  “Jake, what are you doing?” He heard Sara ask as he continued up the street, taking out three more armed men.

  “My job,” was all he said in return.

  Jake continued to check his tactical display, directing units around him to targets nearby.

  Everywhere he looked there were dead and dying, most still clutching the weapons that had condemned them to their fates. To his amazement, he hardly saw any female casualties. The few exceptions were usually buried in a pile of armed bodies. They were most likely the victims of mistaken identity or simply not visible to the shooter.

  ----*----

  Patti and Sara watched Jake moved up the street from where he had called in the medical evac. Both constantly scanned the overhead imagery, checking for threats that might present a challenge to him. They had wanted to assign a 10th trooper for air cover, but had to relent to higher priority requests. Should Jake find out someone died due to his personal needs, there would be hell to pay.

  Jake was busy directing a fire team to a large group, ignoring his own risks.

  “Colonel, there is a group of five coming in on your 10 o’clock,” one of the analysts transmitted.

  As they watch, Jake paused and then the five dropped, almost as one.

  “Thanks,” they heard Jake reply.

  Checking the large overhead display, they could see that the number of combatants was nearing zero. All across the target area, they were getting reports of surrenders.

  “Jake, they are giving up,” Sara announced.

  “Copy that, pulling back,” Jake replied while pausing in his current position.

  ----*----

  Stopping to check his tactical display, Jake was rolling through the unit status when he was slammed from behind. Knocked to the ground, there were at least two men on his back. As a third came around and started kicking Jake in the head, he was able to get his hands under him and gave a solid shove.

  Both Jake, and the two on top of him, cleared the ground by about four feet, before Jake got his feet under himself. While the first two fell to the ground in surprise, the kicker took a swing at Jake with the pipe he held.

  Taking the pipe blow to the left arm, it knocked Jake sideways, but he was able to keep on his feet. Spinning away from the kicker, he kicked back violently, sending the man flying across the street. Impacting the wall of the building there, he dropped like a sack, and lay there motionless.

  By now, the other two had risen, and as one, they both charged Jake. Stepping to the outside, Jake drove a fist into the nearest man, crushing his ribcage and dropping him in place. He then spun and with a leap, brought the last man down with a blow to the middle of his back, taking them both down to the ground. Only Jake got up.

  Turning slowly, he found four marines standing there, watching him.

  “Are you done sir?” the team leader calmly asked, “Lt. Colonel Sullivan sent us to escort you back.”

  ----*----

  Ja
ke was standing with Patti and Sara, watching the real time video from LA. The marines were currently working cleanup, collecting loose weapons and assisting the wounded where possible. Earlier they had gathered all the survivors, classifying them as either threat or victim. Victims were all processed and given several options for a new start.

  They divided threats into two categories, prisoners and criminals. He ordered prisoners given one-way trips to various locations south of the border. While Jake couldn’t bring himself to enforce a capital punishment rule, he instead turned the criminals over to their victims for judgment. So far, none had survived the experience.

  “Colonel, we have the final casualty report,” one of the analysts announced.

  Jake sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to like what he heard, “Let me have it.”

  “We lost four Marines, all crushed to death. Seven more are in the infirmary with fractures. Three arms, two legs and two with rib injuries.”

  Jake knew he should be thrilled with the report. He just took 130 newly trained Marines up against 600-armed men and lost only four. However, he wasn’t.

  “I want a full, detailed report on how every one of them lost their lives,” Jake replied.

  Chapter 27

  Brian had been following all the LA reports from orbit. ALICE provided video of the entire event, allowing all the facilities to observe, should anyone choose too. Attendance to any of the viewing areas was voluntary, and all locations were packed to capacity.

  Per Jake’s instruction, Brian had been overseeing the upgrades to the battleship from Revenge. They were supporting ALICE, acting as the shuttle for all the necessary materials. The one new aspect of this was the battleship was large enough to take Revenge into its hangar. With each supply run back to earth, they returned and parking inside the massive hangar to offload and support. There was a Lanai transport assisting as well and both fit comfortably.

  While they constantly wandered through the larger ship, they still lived aboard Revenge. Not yet provisioned, the battleship only contained those things the Wawobash had included in its rebuild. The more Brian and his crew explored, the more surprises they encountered. The biggest surprise so far was the bedding.

  All the bunks were recesses in the wall of each crew cabin. With a ship this large, there was enough space for each crewmember to get their own room, which included a small table for two or three and a working desk. However, none of the crew bunks had mattresses, everyone assuming they would need to be added later.

  One of the crew tried the bunk on for size, accidently activating it. They next thing she knew, she was floating about five inches above the bed, suspended in a hover. Climate controlled, no blankets were required, and the space was large enough for two. Rumor had it that two of Brian’s crewmembers had secretly availed themselves of one, for purely experimental purposes, he was sure.

  ----*----

  Jake was going over all of the after action reports from the LA encounter. It had been several days since the battle and he had been pushing everyone for answers. He had ordered all reports forwarded to him as soon as they were completed, not wanting to wait for the total package at once. As he expected, there was room for improvement on all fronts.

  Troop deployment, movement, communications, and command and control all showed areas for refinement. The four dead all represented a failure to coordinate cross team support properly. Each one had been a member of a fire team whose position was overrun. The only saving grace being the entire team wasn’t lost in the process.

  The day after the battle, they had gathered everyone in the hangar. They had decided that as Space Marines, a burial wasn’t appropriate. Instead, they mimicked Sara’s ceremony in Maine and had four fighters ferry the bodies into orbit. The entire ceremony projected in the hangar locally and elsewhere for all to attend.

  As for the effects of their effort, Chris reported a significant change in the LA population as well. He was getting information that small pockets of people in residence were coming out of hiding and establishing communities. They were mostly along the coast, Manhattan, Redondo and Santa Monica Beaches, but all had people living out in the open.

  There was still the occasional shootout between factions, but ALICE had started flying the supply helicopter in wider circles, giving the impression of a security patrol. That usually sent the shooters fleeing. It also suggested they needed to establish a security patrol in earnest.

  On a personal note, Jake had detected an undertone of discontent with Sara lately. While she and Patti were getting along better than ever, she had a bit of an edge with both Linda and Kathy. It wasn’t something he could put his finger on, but it was definitely there.

  Every time he visited either of them, mostly around getting his daddy time with the children, Sara’s attitude the next day would be less than friendly to them. Not a complete cold-shoulder, mind you, more of a distracted, disinterested attitude.

  Moreover, her interactions with the other women were kept short and to the point. If she needed anything from either of them, she would message or send a surrogate rather than ask herself. So far, it hadn’t impacted operations, but Jake wasn’t sure how much longer he could let her continue before he needed to intercede.

  His other challenge had been Becky. Having last seen her on the flight to Texas, just prior to the trip to reunite ALICE-9 with her sisters, she had been hounding him for another visit. Definitely his high maintenance relationship, she reminded him constantly about his agreement regarding a child. With Kathy pregnant, they had all agreed that having both the senior medical staff with child was a bad idea. Now that Tracy was born, in her mind, Becky was free to pursue having Jake’s baby.

  Jake personally felt she wasn’t mature enough to be a mother. His opinion was she was also a bit too self-centered, and this was more about her wanting the additional attention that pregnancy brings. While she had the ability to focus on her medical duties, excelling in that area, the relationship part of her had tended to be shallow and extremely physical.

  As the beneficiary of that, Jake hadn’t objected, but at this point, he was working with ALICE to delay any more pregnancies. He knew who really controlled that issue and was fortunate that ALICE had tended to agree with him on this subject.

  Flipping over to the troop status, he had given everyone a few days off after LA. Once the weapons from the battlefield were recovered and stored, and the bodies were removed, they all got a 3-day pass. ALICE handled the collecting of bodies by using specialty bots, letting them do the majority of the recoveries.

  He was happy to see a large portion of the SMEF had opted to hop a transport to San Nicolas. As the force was almost 50/50 men to women, he was sure the beach parties were about to get very interesting.

  ----*----

  Sara left all the after action analysis for Patti and her crew, as that was their specialty and she would just be in the way. She had spent the first night after the battle with Jake, but they only slept and he was up early the next morning with only a few hours’ sleep.

  She knew he was both saddened and upset at the casualties, making a big production over the burials. He had insisted they be sent off in dress uniforms, ALICE providing four that Jake considered proper. He had wanted something called a 21-gun salute, so ALICE generated a virtual holograph to perform the ceremony. The audio was deafening in the hangar.

  Jake’s mood had improved slightly after that, and the R&R reports positively delighted him. Sara had always appreciated Jake’s commitment to his troops, but this last battle gave her a new perspective on what that really meant. Fighting side-by-side created bonds that you couldn’t put words too, she understood that now.

  She also found that she had no patience with either Linda or Kathy making demands on Jake’s time so soon after the fighting. As non-combatants, they didn’t understand what Jake was going through, as she did. She tried to deflect or dissuade them from monopolizing his free moments.

  Without being rude, she attempted to
use herself as a roadblock to Jake, inserting herself between Jake and all the others. The one thing she wasn’t able to interfere with was his time with his children, and that frustrated her. She knew it was wrong, but it still irked her that she wasn’t pregnant. She wanted to bring it up with Jake but as she was keeping the others personal issues at bay, it would be improper to insert her issues in their place.

  Currently she was working on the advanced training schedule Jake had requested. As marines were coming off R&R, he wanted them all in either jump school or heavy weapons. Neither course was very long, so she had them split between the two for better management. Once they completed their training cycles, she would flip the groups.

  ----*----

  LeSoc had just completed their pickup on the Netite home world. All things considered, it went smoother than expected. They had alerted the planetary leadership they required 3,000 troops for the assignment, standard compensation rules applied.

  For the Netites, that meant anything they could plunder from the victims in question, they could keep. As such, over 5,000 appeared at the designated LZ for pickup. LeSoc was able to reduce the number to just over 4,000 by requiring their weapons to be first stored on the destroyers. Several fights broke out at that point, reducing the numbers.

  Once the transport was loaded, they immediately departed for the Klinan home world. The trip would require several cycles to complete, so he had suggested the transport captain consider gassing the transport bay to sedate the beasts.

  ----*----

  It had been a few weeks since the big LA battle. All the marines had been able to get both their R&R time as well as complete the jump and weapons schools. Jake had also learned that a second boot camp had been started for a smaller number of recruits. Even with a smaller number of graduates, after graduation, he might actually have a complete company. The thought made him smile.