by Shawn Jones
“To answer your first two questions, she needs the experience. To answer your last question, let me ask one of my own. Are you failing?”
“I do not believe so. I have high losses, but not a single civilian has been lost thus far.”
“We have an old saying among my people. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“So as long as I am successful, you will not interfere with my methods?”
“Simply put, but yes. You are successful on this planet. You are related, albeit distantly, to its inhabitants, and within our alliance, it shows everyone how much I trust you, both as a species and as an individual.”
“Ah, so it is political.”
“As long as you are successful, yes. I won’t throw lives away, even H’uuman ones, to prove a point, but I also won’t tamper with a successful formula.”
“I see. In any case, I have appreciated your trust.”
“I appreciate that you have earned it, Norvan. I expect you and Jane will be able to clean this mess up after I leave.”
“You are leaving?”
“Yes. The battle for Nill is much more difficult. The environment is more jungle-like, so we are having more trouble with it than the Tapons are. We just can’t move as easily as they can, and it is taking a toll on our forces there. The shock troops can take them, but only by destroying the forests, and I want to avoid that if possible.”
Nill
Mike Rage had the wolfpacks with him on Nill. He and Lex were slowly flanking the Tapon invaders, and the wolves were a big part of the success. But the losses were staggering. More than half of the five hundred animals were wounded or dead. Fortunately, the Nill were not averse to using orbital strikes, so several Ares ships were dropping small asteroids on the planet. Unfortunately, the enemy was moving closer and closer to populated areas, which meant the ships overhead would have to cease their bombardment soon.
“The wolves need better armor, Lex. We are losing too many of them and I’m not sure we can justify it,” Mike said over his comm.
Lex was on the same continent, but he was cutting through jungle three thousand kilometers away. “We underestimated them. We must have been facing civilian police on Tapon. These guys are way better armed, and we are in their environment.”
“I sent the data to Mars. Hopefully Weapons and Research can come up with something. For us and the wolves.”
“If not, we are going to lose a lot more wolves and people,” Lex said.
“At the least the bugs are keeping them in the forest. Colonel Falo has gotten the Nill to concede to a killing field around the capital. Of course he called it a ‘deployment zone’, but his plan is to flood it with H’uumans and overwhelm their weaponry.”
Lex’s next question left his mouth before he had time to think about it. “How do you feel about their methods, Mike?”
“It is like spiking a cannon.”
“Pardon me?”
“Back in the day, even before Cort’s time, when soldiers wanted to disable enemy artillery, they would fill the barrels with anything they could find and drive a metal spike into the powder hole. Even if they could clear the barrel, the spike would keep them from firing it.”
“You lost me, Mike.”
“The H’uumans throw so many bodies at the Tapon weapons that they are clogging them, figuratively speaking.”
“Gramps calls that a ‘target rich environment’. So what do you think of the strategy?”
“I think it works. If the enemy runs out of ammo before they get to our people, then the H’uumans have done their job.”
“I just cannot accept that they are disposable,” Lex said.
“What about what H’uum said about applying our standards to their ways?”
“I don’t have an answer to that, Mike. I know our people are horrified to the point of it affecting their efficiency. Hell, I think half of them are worried we will expect the same of them.”
“Yeah, I hear crap like that when I listen in on the battle net. We need to talk to Cort about separating the nets.”
“Why not talk to him about finding a battle order that meets both our standards?”
“We have that now. Almost no people are dying. That meets my standards.”
“It doesn’t meet mine, Mike. And if using the bugs to clog Tapon barrels works for you… Nevermind. Gaines out.”
--
Colonel Falo had more than a million H’uumans between the capital city and the surrounding forest, almost like a living moat, protecting its charge from the oncoming horde. The first apes appeared in areas of thinner trees. What Falo didn’t expect was that the cursed energy weapons were being fired from the tops of the trees in front of him. “Eyes up!” he clicked at his troops.
The apes, for their part were fighting smart. Since the H’uumans in the front of the living barricade couldn’t reach them, they were firing over their heads at the insectoids in the back of the defenders, causing confusion and chaos throughout the H’uuman troops. Falo knew he could overwhelm the attackers if he could get to them, but his species was not able to climb well enough to overcome the weapons being fired down on them. He couldn’t even cut down more of the forest because of the fire raining down on his men.
Activating his comm, he explained his situation and asked for help. “General Rage, we are being slaughtered. Have your aircraft began to deploy yet?”
“Yes, Colonel. They are working on the enemy armor, but the capital is the priority. What do you need.”
“Do you have flame bombs?”
Thinking the translation software was having trouble, Mike asked for clarification. After Falo replied, he said, “Okay. No. We call them incendiary bombs, and we don’t have them. What do you have in mind?”
“I wish to ignite the forest. The Nill have approved of my plan, but we don’t have a way to do it. But it must be done, General. If it is not, we will lose the capital city.”
“Stand by, Falo. I will see what I can do.”
“Be quick, General. We do not mind laying down our lives for victory, but we do not wish to do it without gain.”
“Understood. We will do what we can. Rage out.”
--
Three hours later, more than half of Falo’s original shock troops were dead. On the up side, he had been reinforced with nearly three hundred thousand additional troops from the northern front. But he was still losing fighters faster than he could replace them. He was about to comm General Rage again, or maybe even General Norvan, when the unit he held activated.
“Colonel Falo, this is Bravo two-one Actual, do you copy, sir?”
“Yes, Bravo Actual, I copy.”
“I have a delivery from the print shop, sir. You are going to need to move your people back a few meters.”
“The print shop, Bravo?”
“Call me Rawhide, sir, that’s my callsign. They have been printing incendiary weapons for the last two hours. I am making the first delivery.”
Falo said, “I see, Rawhide. What are you delivering?”
“Vacuum sealed iron sulfide, sir. It should ignite the moment the bombs hit the treetops.”
“Iron sulfide? Of course. It is pyrophoric. What is your ETA, Rawhide?”
“We are two Ares minutes out, sir. Will that give you enough time?”
“Make it five, please. I would like to minimize our losses due to the weapon.”
--
Without enough time to develop and deploy an incendiary bomb, the Weapons and Research people worked with what they had. That meant printing packets of vacuum sealed iron sulfide. Once the packets hit the trees, they would burst open, exposing the powder to atmosphere, causing it to spontaneously combust. The WAR department wasn’t completely sure it would work because of the additional gases the Nill had been pumping into the atmosphere for over a thousand years, but they were confident. Especially after a test packet fell on the floor and broke open, catching a plastic work table on fire.
Lieutenant John “Rawhi
de” West went in low over the trees that bordered the moat of H’uuman warriors surrounding the city. He dropped his payload over a two kilometer stretch of the forest’s edge, igniting trees and Tapons alike. He didn’t hear the scream of the dying primates, but he did hear the roar of cheerful clicking over the battle network.
“Bravo two-one, this is Rawhide. It looks like the tech weenies got it right, deploy around the perimeter of the forest according to plan delta. Say again, plan delta.” After he received acknowledgement, each of the sixteen members of Bravo two-one dropped his or her payload along a twenty degree arc of the forest in the same way Rawhide had taken the first section. Thirty seconds later, the trees were engulfed in flames. Screaming Tapons leapt from the trees and into death at the hands of the H’uumans below.
Those apes that could, moved back through the forest only to meet the same fate as their compatriots when additional squadrons of fighter bombers began to carpet bomb the canopy of trees. For these Tapons though, death was more brutal. Instead of facing the swarm of H’uuman fighters when they escaped the inferno of the trees, this group of Tapons faced the wolfpacks, and the wolfpacks wanted revenge.
If the apes had been able to keep their weapons as they fell, it might have been a fair fight. For that matter, if they had landed with all of their limbs, it might have been a fair fight. But they didn’t land with weapons, and very few of them landed with their four thin arms intact. Many died from the fall itself, but when those that did survive the fall met the wolves, they died with their necks crushed in the powerful jaws of the animals who until just a few years before had been extinct.
There were also the CONDOR-clad Marines who were seeking revenge for the deaths of their companion wolves. Death at their hands was quick though. In the years to come, Nill children would find the headless skeletons of the Marines’ victims throughout the forest and imagine some monstrous spectre was stalking the planet’s inhabitants.
--
“We can still repair the Core. Your plan is lunacy!”
“On your haunches, Thero! Mind who you speak to!”
Thero did indeed sit back on his haunches and apologized. “I am sorry, sir. But I am also right. We know how to repair the Core. If we follow the path of the worm to enter the capital, it will be forever destroyed.”
“Better that no one have it then,” General Siyan said. “We can still take the planet, and that is our priority. Even at the cost of the Core, we will have our ancestral home.”
“I disagree sir. Just today we received word that we have lost the last of our planets for this quest. If we sacrifice the Core itself for this one, we will have gained nothing.”
“Addison will not continue to fight for this planet once the Core is completely destroyed. Then it will be ours.”
“No sir. I do not mean to discount your beliefs but Addison has sworn to make us extinct. We were mistaken to involve him in our ancient war with the Nill. He will not stop until we are all dead.”
Siyan said, “All the more reason to destroy the Core, if you are right. We cannot allow the Core to exist if they might learn its secrets. The whole of the universe would be theirs to control if they somehow learn the power it wields.”
Thero’s eyes widened as his general’s words sank in. Siyan saw the realization in his eyes and said, “Yes, Thero. From the moment Addison arrived in this time, our path was clear. We must either claim the Core, or destroy it.”
“How much of the truth have you hidden from me, Siyan?”
“The White Council has ordered this, Thero.” Siyan looked for wonder or perhaps awe from his underling, but saw only doubt.
“The White Council! Bah! It is the stuff of children’s tales. It is meant to inspire our imaginations, and nothing more.”
Siyan said nothing, but watched silently as Thero put the pieces together. It had never made sense that the species was so adamant about reclaiming one world, when they had found more than half a dozen that were more beautiful than the one they were fighting for. And the rulers had jeopardized billions, condemned them to death in fact, to take back one planet, solely to reclaim the Core. An outdated, now damaged, computer that legend said held the key to the universe. Now the man he most respected in that universe was telling him that it wasn’t just legend.
“How do you think Addison jumped through time, Thero? His people stumbled onto one of its secrets. If they find the way to repair it, they will learn many more of them. The very act of repairing it will teach them more than you can imagine.”
“How much of what we hear of the White Council is true, Siyan?”
“That would take more time than we have to tell you, my friend. Nor would I want to take away that last mystery from your youth. But I will tell you, the White Council is the group who has guarded the Core all this time. Since our kind were first banished from this world by the cursed Nill, we have worked both here and across our empire to attain our goals.”
“Here? How?” Thero asked.
Twelve
Cort arrived on Nill two weeks later. He watched the shuttle crew unloading the HAWC suit, then turned to join Mike and Lex on a walk across the tarmac. “How are things?” he asked.
MIke Rage said, “We did a tachyon scan of the cave network they have retreated into. It is over one thousand klicks from where Falo made his stand. The incendiaries really turned the battle. We estimate fewer than four heavy divisions made it to the caves, and none of their armor. Two wolves followed them in. One made it out and he had clearly taken a few bites out of them.”
“The bad news is that the caves are too small for the HAWC,” Lex added. “For that matter, they are too small for most of the CONDORs. Anyone over one hundred and seventy centimeters will not be able to go in wearing more than a FALCON. It is not the height though, it is the width. The caves are narrow.”
“How many people do we have who are small enough?” Cort asked.
“Two,” Mike said, “and they are both on Solitude.”
“So the rest of this will be in FALCONs,” Cort said. “It’s gonna be messy. How many wolves are left?”
Lex said, “They were just reinforced. I have one hundred and eighty two combat ready. Seventeen more are severely wounded and returning to Solitude, and fifteen who will be able to fight again in a day or two. Frankly General, the losses they are taking are not worth it. The wolves aren’t combat capable.”
Cort said, “I disagree. We just need to deploy them more effectively. Jane got a full pack just before I left her and in the first day they had a kill ratio of over forty to one, with zero deaths and only one significant injury. On an arctic plain or light forest, the wolves are incredible. In this mess though, they just didn’t work. I take responsibility for that.”
“Are we going to take them into the caves?” Lex asked.
“No. I might want to keep them in reserve though. But before we get into that, how do you guys feel about me taking over?”
“You are the CINC, sir. What you say goes,” Mike answered.
“That’s not what I mean. I want to know what the effect of having me take over for you will be. On the two of you, and your people.”
“Are you relieving us of command, sir?”
“Technically, yes I am, Mike. But you aren’t being sent home. I’m keeping you in the fight. My inclination is to leave you in place regarding theater operations and coordinating the planet’s defense, while I take over the caves.”
“I doubt anyone will look down on us,” Lex said. “It is more likely they will think you are a jerk for stealing the glory from us. They have seen me out there some, and Mike has been ground pounding since day one.”
“Okay, good. I don’t care what they think of me.”
“We could send the shock troops in, sir.”
“No, Mike. The bugs have done enough. We gave them a job and they did it. Besides, a lot of them are too tall for the caves.”
“But they can crawl.”
“Not in a way that keeps t
hem combat ready.” Looking at the other two, Cort asked, “How many people have you lost?”
“Sixty or seventy,” Lex said.
Turning to Rage, Cort said, “Since the first battle on Tapon, the H’uumans have probably lost that many million. I know to them it’s an honor, but we can’t use them to fight our wars, Mike.”
“If that’s their Valhalla, why not?”
“If you don’t get it, it’s not something I can explain. Maybe you just have to fight beside them for a while. Lex said you’ve been on the ground since day one. How much of that time has been beside the bugs?”
Mike looked at his own feet as he practically whispered, “None.”
“Why not?” Cort was shocked at Mike’s answer and his voice betrayed the anger he felt. “For that matter, how much have you trained with them?”
“I haven’t,” Rage said.
“What? Not even in sims?” Cort was furious. “These people were dying for us, and you haven’t even trained with them? Aren’t you in charge of training, Mike? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me!” Cort stopped before they got within earshot of the Marines at the edge of the tarmac. “The bugs are our allies.”
“Only because they would be extinct otherwise, sir.”
“You have no fucking idea…” Cort began.
Lex raised his hand and said, “What would Dave think of you right now, Mike? How would he feel about the bugs?”
Dave Gaines had been Lex’s cousin, and he gave his life defending Oxia Palus from an attack by Earth. He had also been Mike’s boyfriend. “That was even low for you, Lex,” Mike said.
“Answer the question. What would my dead cousin say to you right now?”
“He doesn’t have to answer it, Lex. He knows Dave would have expected better of him,” Cort said. “General Rage, I’m sending you back to Solitude. When this is over, you need to decide where your future is. Because if it’s with me, you will fight for the H’uumans with the same passion that Dave fought for Oxia. In fact, didn’t he pull you out of the shitstorm at Aeolis, too?”
