by Lazlo Ferran
My briefing to the men was early. In conclusion, I pointed the laser to the nearest warehouse indicated on the map, projected on the front wall of the mess. “Our nearest five tanks are hidden in this warehouse. The other ten are here, in this warehouse and in a third here – five in each. Now we don’t know exactly what is going to happen but I can tell you personally that our intel is much better this time than any other. There will probably be twelve SU 401s – no more, and I would guess a few hundred IM grubs and grunts – no more; they cannot spare the troops and anyway any more would be too hard to conceal.” I heard a quiet ‘shit’ from one of the grunts sitting at the back. “Yes soldier? Your point?”
“Sir. Did you say twelve SUs? We will be slaughtered! How come our force is so small?”
“Good question. There are two points here. The first is that the USAC can’t spare any more troops, or armour either. The second, and most important for us, is that we know how the SUs are equipped and we will be concealed. Don’t worry. Now, my guess is that they won’t try the main entrance here, which is protected by our five tanks. They will try to tunnel down to the shallowest tunnel in the mine. Some of those old tunnels go all the way back across the slope to here. I pointed to a point nearly five miles closer to the IM front line. If they can get in here they have full access to the mine. But we will be listening for any seismic activity and I don’t need to remind you we have the very latest equipment. Concealment: you all are wondering what I have in mind here. Well the mine has been told to leave us a nice pile of slag near the entrance which we can use to cover the MCS. I know you will all want to volunteer to do that but don’t all rush at once.” I could see a lot of the faces which grinned back at me. “The slag, in case you didn’t know, is a bi-product of raw iron production and is strongly magnetic so the SU air-to-ground radar will miss us. Of course it may pick up the PODs but they like to take risks.” More jeers from the audience. “Finally; two points; of course ours is the lead MCS and so we will be in overall control of the tanks. Their crews and commanders may well visit here at time for briefings and as usual, we offer a place for men to unwind on long missions. I don’t mind you fraternising – indeed I can’t stop you, but that doesn’t mean I want to hear about a lot of drug-induced comas while on duty. We will be on yellow alert from our zero hour – midnight tomorrow, and that means none of you do anything that stops you being ready for action in ten minutes. Understood?”
There was a discordant and disapproving chorus of “Yes sir,” from the men.
“Finally, I want all of you in your suits at all times from now. We don’t know when they are going to attack or how they are going to attack and there's no point taking risks. That’s all. Any questions?”
There was an even louder chorus of disapproval at the last point, but no questions.
“Dismissed.” Two of the men sat down. “When I said ‘suits now’, I meant now.” I said to them. Irritably, they started pulling their suits from their lockers which were set into the side of the mess, over the officers’ cabins.
“Osei and Khan; I need to speak to you both privately in the Office.” The ‘Office’ was the corridor beside the washroom on the starboard side that led to my own cabin. It was used for storage but was the only possibility for privacy on the ship beside my own cabin. The two lieutenants lounged on crates while I addressed them.
“In my briefing with Roanald I found out some other things which, in my opinion, it’s useful for you to know – all strictly confidential of course, and in fact, for now, secret. What we know is that recently the Mine Director – Choi was his name, was sacked when it was found out he’d been handing over information about the mine to the IM. Now unfortunately this is particularly relevant in this mine because only recently they discovered a rich seam of iron ore right underneath Anderstown suburbs and have dug a tunnel to reach it. The IM know this now and they know if they can get into the mine from any of those points not too far from their own front-line, they can quickly get right under Anderstown, and from what I have heard, it’s no great task to get into some of the old sewers from there. What I haven’t told the men is that we have to stop the IM at all costs, even if it means destroying the mine. For that reason charges have been placed on the IM side of the mine, close to the main access shafts, and also half way between the access shafts and Anderstown, in this new tunnel. It’s called Tunnel M, and if this goes badly wrong and any one of us is left alive, it will be up to them to make sure these charges are blown. I’ll take you down there and show you them in more detail in the next twenty-four hours.”
There were nods from the two men.
“Osei. Get ten men together and take one of the PODs over to the mine to pick up the slag. Then deploy the P.O.Ds. in good defensive positions.”
We didn’t have to wait long for the attack. On the third day - night on Io, a single SU 401 was picked up on the radar, coming in high and fast. He didn’t wait to be shot at and probably took a few nice photos of empty ground around the mine.
As Khan called out the intruder over the intercom, the men jumped into action. Plates and dice were dropped as men reached for their weapons – but it was a false alarm.
“Only reconnaissance!” Khan’s voice crackled through the speakers.
Moans of frustration from the men filled the fetid air in the ship.
“Don’t get complaisant!” I told them. “They are coming... soon!”
I was more accurate than I had expected.
Thirty minutes later there was a sudden flash from somewhere outside and then the MCS shook.
Khan’s voice, calm but urgent announced the obvious, “Incoming!” and then the not so obvious, “I think they’ve spotted us!”
“Khan! What’s happening?” I shouted as I reached the flight-deck hatch.
In the red light, Osei’s mouth was open, saying something to me but another explosion drowned out his words.
“What?”
Both Osei and Khan together shouted, “MCS Bravo is hit!”
“How?”
“Dunno. Infra-red? They know where we are! Look”
I looked to where Khan, sitting in the driving seat, was pointing. The radar screen showed seven blips – SU 401s, and smaller blips streaking from them towards all three positions of the MCSs.
Somebody has ratted on us. But who...
“Coming at us!” shouted Khan.
This was it. My worst nightmare had come at last. I didn’t hesitate. I reached for the red Evac. button and punched it. The Evac. button bi-passed all other safety procedures so there was no question of any time to prepare. Instantly the hot air in the MCS started rushing out through the open hatch.
“Lids!” I screamed pointlessly. Every man would have already taken a deep breath and be closing his visor. The escape hatch was just inside the mess and I could already see men lunging up the ladder.
“Come on!” I shouted to Osei and Khan, but already I knew we would be too late. I waited for the stream of men to escape and as the seconds ticked by, each like an eternity, my heart beats grew louder and my breaths fewer.
Crash! Everything went mad as the missile hit. My helmet hit the rim of the hatch into the mess, and for a moment I couldn’t see. Instinct kicked in and I groped for something, so that I could pull myself towards the ladder. Somebody grabbed my arms and then I saw Stone’s face, blurry but distinct, grinning at me.
“Hit the rear!” came over my intercom. Within moments I was out and standing on the roof of the MCS. Multiple explosions lit the night sky with white flashes, which cooled to red and yellow, eerily silent.
As I jumped up onto some slag to quickly survey the battlefield I saw troops of IM snaking over the ridge of the volcano and laser fire streaked out towards some of the PODs near us.
Laser fire hit a lump of slag near Stone’s head and he dived for cover. The lump glowed reddish black with the heat.
Our position had been under a bluff just above the main approach track to the mine entrance.
This sloped up from the south along the side of the volcano before turning ninety degrees into the mine entrance. Most of the terrain was harsh and slag-strewn but the track offered a chance of escape.
“To the track, men.” I said over the intercom calmly. “Regroup near POD 5 - half way between here and the mine entrance. Stone. Where is Osei?”
“I saw him with a group of men taking up defensive position the other side of the MCS Cap!”
“Osei. Get onto S.5 now. We need air-cover and we need it now.”
“Osei’s voice crackled through the interference from the battle.”
“Sir!”
“Then get your men to the rendezvous. We are going to launch a counter attack. Where is Khan?”
“Don’t know sir. I think he stayed in the MCS.”
“What? Stone, I want to know what our status is and that of the other MCSs. Okay?”
“Yessir!”
“But stay with me. Use one of the other frequencies if you have to.”
I looked at the front corner of our MCS and could see the far-side turret moving, Khan seeking targets for the laser cannons.
Idiot.
“Khan! Khan get out of there. Now! That is an order!”
“Will do sir. Just one more incoming. Everyone clear of the MCS!”
“Khan!”
I saw the whitish streak of the missile’s liquid hydrogen exhaust streaking straight towards the MCS from the south. An SU 401 banked after releasing it and climbed for cover of height. There would be no time for Khan now.
The laser cannons moved to aim at the missile and it grew in my visor until it was too big and too close. I closed my eyes. There was an enormous flash of white which lit up the inside of my eyelids and I was thrown to the ground. Pieces of MCS flew over our heads until again there was silence.
I could see helmets shaking in disbelief.
We moved quickly, using short hops to POD 5 where at least there would be a few weapons.
The voice of DeTunne came over the intercom from the POD. “Nice to see you, Cap. POD 3 has bought it. And I think one of those warehouses with our tanks in, has been hit.”
“Losses?”
“Still assessing sir. Help yourself to lasers.”
“Tell the other PODs to start clearing a path between us and the southern ridge of the volcano. That’s where we’re going because that’s where their troops are coming from. That’s where they’ll be attempting to get into the mine.”
“Yessir!”
“Osei? Where is the air-cover?”
“On its way sir.”
“How long?”
“Twelve minutes.”
Shit! What was the point of all this secrecy if they knew we were here anyway?
“Osei. Anything from the other MCSs?”
“Nothing sir. POD 1 and 4 say all comms have stopped. Probably gone sir and all in them, God rest their souls.”
All remaining men regrouped by POD 5 and then we started over the small ridge above the road and on, eastwards towards the ridge of Ruwa Patera. It was only half way to the ridge that we came across the first concentration of IM that the remaining PODs had not yet cleared.
Stone came on the line. “Status reports sir.”
“Go ahead.”
“Our MCS - five dead. Other MCS gone sir, far as we can tell. Some good news though.”
“Yes?”
“Look to your left Cap, about three o’clock.”
I looked and surrounded by sulphurous dust came a glorious sight; eight of our own tanks.
“Where are you Stone? I need you here.”
“With you in a moment, Cap.”
“You!” I tapped a grunt on the shoulder. “Break out the lasers from the POD.”
The panel fell open on the side of the POD, released from inside, revealing five X.50s. It was a start. The grunt handed one to me, kept one himself and handed out the other three.
Stone came up from the column behind me just as a line of IM militia stood up on a ridge to our right. Twenty of them opened fire on our double-column, now of only forty-five men, loosely spread out and with flankers. I knew our flankers would soon have this covered. While we lay behind rocks for cover I tried to think through my strategy.
Don’t know how many men they have but since they must have come the last five or ten miles on foot they would have had the chance to spread themselves very wide and we could easily be walking into a trap. Do we have a choice? No. We have too few men to split up.
“Air-cover?”
“Four minutes sir.”
“Okay. We wait here men.”
The flashes of laser fire grew less frequent and then stopped. Stone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked to where he was pointing. Walsh was waving from the ridge where the IM had been.
“Get over here Walsh and take cover.”
We waited for our air-cover and when it came, it was not a moment too soon. The SUs had concentrated on destroying the remaining tanks and had hit three. Our three FA 217s struggled to cope with the outdated, but still fast, SU 401s. Left over from the age of the first conflicts between what was once Russia, and USAC on Mars, the SUs were built for speed. Even though their avionics and weapons systems were completely obsolete, their speed still made them dangerous. * We watched as the little white fighters fought each other. Within seconds an SU was caught by a missile and exploded in a galaxy of light motes.
“That’s evened the odds up a bit!” I said over the intercom.
I stood up.
“To your feet men!”
All remaining men stood up and I beckoned them to follow. We had covered more than three of the four miles to the ridge. I couldn’t see any IM this side of it and we made good progress over the next twenty minutes. Passing near some of the PODs we picked up more X.50s until every man was armed.
Passing over onto the other side or Ruwa and towards the dawn as it rushed over Io’s surface towards us, we could see what all the fuss was about.
An IM Fortriss digger was vertical in its cradle after having just exited a shaft in the surface below it about four-hundred yards in front of us. It would be right over the position of one of the shallowest tunnels in the mine if the IM ground-radar was accurate enough.
“Osei? I want you to organise the vehicles. I want the tanks and PODs to go around the back of the IM and give us covering fire from there. Keep them well out - their longer range should keep them safe. Once they’re in position and covering us we will go in, in small groups. The ground’s rough down there and I can’t see how many men they have.”
“Stone. I’ve seen more than one shot come from that ridge on our right. Draw their fire while we circle around them.”
After we eliminated them Stone joined us. All the while the tanks and PODs circled around behind the Fortiss and moved into position.
“Sir. Look!” A Grunt called Dunne in front of me was pointing way to the right, ahead of the digger and I just caught a bright flash of orange light from the corner of my eye. We were only about fifty yards from the digger and under heavy fire as we moved. For a moment we had taken shelter behind a large lump of slag on the lip of a shallow gully.
“What the fu...!”
“Laser sir?”
“I dunno but whatever it is, it’s big and just took out one of our tanks. The IM shouldn’t have equipment like that... not that they can carry around. I haven’t seen any vehi...”
That was when I realised my big mistake.
Looking to the right of the field of battle I saw more IM only a few yards away coming in on the opposite side to that of the first attack. They were all armed with laser-knives. We were caught between two lines. They had laser-knives because they didn’t want to hit each other. But more significant was the fact that they knew, and we knew, they couldn’t win. It was just a delaying tactic.
In the instant the real situation registered in my over-busy mind, I stood still, watching another orange explosion beyond the digger.
Another tank or POD.
There are always moments like this in any battle for a leader: the moment when you perceive the deepest strategy of your opponent and have to take stock of what you have left and what’s achievable. It is a moment of complete silence and clarity. That is, your mind becomes silent, and if you are a good leader, you find you have plenty of time to work out a strategy that has a chance of winning. The moment came, and went, and I acted,.
“Stone!” I shouted into the intercom. “Watch the rear. Keep it open!”
“You think I didn’t know that?” Stone always became angry in the heat of battle.
I knew now that we were surrounded. Seeing it as their last chance to trap us, they had delayed us and now we were probably seconds away from slaughter. I weighed the distance to the digger and wondered what forces were between us and it.
“Sir! Osei here. Sir. Something’s wrong!”
“Yes I know. We’re in trouble. What is it Osei? Quick!”
“The digger sir. It’s stopped digging. Also, we’re too close. If they still needed it, would they pick an ambush point this close?”
“Yes.” It was irrelevant now. We had to get out of the ambush or lose our lives, and the mine. The digger had been down since we’d first seen it but now it was motionless in its cradle. That meant that they already had broken through to a shaft and it was most likely they already had a squad on their way down.
So near yet so far.
“Back! Retreat!”
The second wave of laser-knife armed IM had reached us and it was a question of survival for now. I aimed my laser at a grunt and pulled the trigger. There was a senselessness to it but I just kept picking them off while slowly shuffling along the gully with my column of men. When the last of the disposable IM grunts was down, the real attack started. Incoming green laser-fire forced us to the ground. I found myself looking at a lump of slag next to a piece of silicate, coated in fine sulphur powder an inch from my visor. For a moment I thought how beautiful the yellow of the powder was against the red flecked black of the slag and the variegated, speckled silicate.
