by Aer-ki Jyr
“When you’re finished, break up that dropship so it doesn’t land in one piece, please.”
“Can’t get to any of the others, sir,” the destroyer pilot apologized as his missiles stretched out and tagged the dropship, one after another in sequence, pounding it into pieces. He keyed for a new target and launched more from the extra-large missile hold on the sizeable warship. “Making rubble as ordered.”
A few moments later the first dropship, depressurized and disabled with a hole punched in the front that connected all the way to the backside where the slug had exited, got reduced in size to several large chunks as the missiles broke it apart, but the sturdier Star Force design didn’t shred like the others, making its debris all the more dangerous when it would eventually impact the surface.
“Do you want me to hit it again?” the pilot asked.
“No…get your ship out of there before you hit the surface too.”
“I can do both,” he offered.
“Save your remaining missiles, we might need them later.”
“Aye, sir.”
Voss watched as the destroyer kicked in its engines and averted the collision course with the surface that it had taken to intercept the dropships. On another screen he saw the other corvette take out one of the enemy landers.
“What’s the final count?”
“Five killed, 13 heading to ground,” his ops officer reported.
Voss closed his eyes for a moment, wandering how many more troops that added to the equation.
“We did what we could,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear. “Now it’s up to the ground troops. Our job from here on out is to clear out the lower lunar orbits and make sure nothing else gets within spitting distance of the moon without our say so. Get on the comm with the individual freighters and inform them of the situation and that we’re not taking no for an answer…and get me a link to the Orion and Mjolnir. We have some hunting parties to organize.”
7
Paul and Emily spent more than two hours in a tram heading over to the ‘nearby’ sector 318, following the tracks that the rest of the 2s had taken earlier to assist the 5s in reclaiming that spaceport. All together there were 1,453 sectors on the Lunar map, but only 83 of them had spaceports as of yet. They were all connected by at least one track, but on the whole Luna was still barely inhabited.
The trip took place several meters underground, with the tram zipping through the dark tunnels floating on magnetic rails to reduce friction and enable faster speeds. The tunnels remained unpressurized for the same reason, but crossing the vast distances between spaceports still took an agonizingly long time.
When the tram finally slowed to a crawl and moved inside the sector 318 spaceport, it was lifted off its track by an automated system and reshuffled to a docking offshoot. The tram door finally opened to reveal an identical foyer to the spaceport they’d left behind, save for the doors on this one had been completely removed, with minor scorch marks on the walls attesting to past explosive damage.
“No greeting party,” Paul commented, stepping off the tram with his rifle in hand.
“Anyone home?” Emily asked over the 2s’ private comm channel.
“Emily? Where are you?” Jason’s voice asked in a hurry.
“At the tram, we just got here.”
“What’s your status?”
“We’re here, but no one else is. Why don’t you have a guard at the terminal?”
“Because we lost the terminal an hour ago,” Jason said, letting that tidbit sink in.
“What’s going on?” Emily asked as she and Paul jogged ahead, past where the security doors had been and up to the left turn that led out of the terminal hallway and further into the spaceport, where they took up combat positions with Paul sneaking a look around the corner. There was no one in sight, but the end of the hallway was chewed apart by bullet holes.
“They have a tank.”
“A tank?” Paul asked, not believing him.
“They brought it along with several tram cars of reinforcements. It’s the size of a rover with a chain gun on top. We couldn’t hold the tram, and once they had it secured the reserves started pouring in.”
“That explains the wall,” Emily commented. “Where are you guys now?”
“Hiding.”
“Why?” Paul asked, frowning inside his helmet.
“They sent so many men we ran out of ammo. We’re ambushing them where we can with our stun sticks but those are getting low on charge…not to mention that all the prisoners we took earlier are probably awake and back in the fight now.”
“Civilians?”
“We evacuated most through the secondary trams to a facility that the 5s had already cleared out, but a lot were caught when the Chinese took the upper levels before the 5s arrived. Our dropship got away just in time with some of them, the rest I don’t know.”
“Did we lose anyone?”
“We’re spread out and on the run, but they haven’t taken any of us down yet. We’re trying to keeping them guessing and away from level 15. We came across six techs hiding in a restroom and have no way to get them out, right now we’re just trying to keep them alive. Figure the enemy has several hundred troops in play by now, counting the ones they recovered, but we don’t know how many for sure since we lost the control room.”
“Well it’s all quiet at the terminal now,” Emily said, glancing up. “And the security cameras are junked, so I don’t think they know we’re here yet.”
“They might be able to monitor incoming traffic,” Jason pointed out. “The security Chief tried to lock out the computers before they got to him…I don’t know if he succeeded.”
“Where are you now?”
“Level 9 playing tag and learning how to snap necks. Getting pretty good at it now,” he said, tension in his voice. “Half of the 5s were at auxiliary sites when the reinforcements came in, and I’d guess they’re still there. The rest of us were clearing out the lower levels like we did last time, with Olivia and Brad covering the tram. When the tank pushed those two back they flooded the upper levels, overwhelming security. We were caught below and cut off, and couldn’t get back up there in time to hold the control room.”
“And here I thought we were winning,” Paul commented.
“We were until they got backup. Where the hell are all these guys coming from anyway?”
“I don’t know about this group, but just before we left fleet reported that the transponders for the entire Chinese fleet cut out and they launched dropships from their cargo ships in orbit. I ordered them to take out as many as they could, but I’m pretty sure some got through.”
“Wonderful,” Jason’s voice said, finally showing a bit of fatigue. “Then there could be even more on the way.”
“I don’t know, and we can’t get any intel if the control room has been lost.”
“Then let’s take it back,” Emily suggested.
“Let’s,” Paul agreed. “Any chance you can make it up another level?”
“No, they’re pretty thick here. I’m in over my head as it is. If you’re behind their lines go for it. If they pull back to deal with you it might give us an opening to exploit. Some of the others have gotten their hands on assault rifles, so we’re not totally unarmed, but their weapons are noisy confetti makers and an invitation to grenades whenever we use the. The walls down here are a mess. They’re chucking them at us whenever they get the chance.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Paul said, taking another peek around the corner. “Where’s the tank at?”
“It’s here with me, guarding the stairwell up. They’re locking us out with the security doors they didn’t blast open on the way in, so we’ve got little maneuvering room. I played possum and got behind them a bit, but couldn’t get past the tank. Speaking of which, I got some friends to deal with in a few seconds. Get going and make some chaos.”
“Gladly,” Emily said, walking around the corner, rifle drawn. Paul stepped up be
hind her then veered off to the right to clear his firing line as he followed her out into the hallway, noticing the twisted remains of the security doors piled in a heap against the end of the main corridor on their left. They headed right towards the nearest stairwell, found the horizontal security door locked in place, then ran off in search of the next closest.
Two guards walked around a corner and into view, then went down within three steps, splattered with paint and unconscious. Paul stopped briefly to snag a grenade off of one man’s belt, then sprint/loped through the low gravity to catch up with Emily.
The next stairwell was open…no explosive damage evident, meaning the enemy must have opened it to allow them access to the upper levels. Both Archons paused at the base, listening for activity at the top. When they heard none Emily jumped up the staircase in three powerful strides, then fired off several shots at targets Paul couldn’t see.
When he followed a moment later three more men were down, apparently a back guard for the stairs, and Emily was darting up the opposite staircase, finding it also open. Paul didn’t hesitate and followed her up, hoping someone wasn’t watching the security feeds and quick enough to close it ahead of them.
Just as Paul crossed over to the ascending stairs he caught sight of a guard down the hallway in his peripheral vision. He jammed his foot hard against the stairs and backtracked, then stood absolutely still in full view of the hallway and took careful aim. He fired three shots down the long hallway, noting how they didn’t drop as fast as they normally did in full gravity, and caught the man in the chest with two of them, the third hitting the butt of his rifle. Paul didn’t wait to see him drop and took back to the stairs in a flash.
The Chinese had left all the level access doorways open on this staircase, which made it easier for them to move up and down behind the front lines, but it also gave Emily and Paul a direct shot up to level 1, which they gladly exploited, taking out an additional two guards on the top level before exiting into a large promenade that had been used as a welcome center before the attack. The dimensions of the room and the entire spaceport were identical to all the others, and they were already familiar with the route to the control room, just two sections away.
The welcome center was filled with trash and debris, but empty of personnel…the next room over was not, as the Archons walked right into the middle of the enemy’s headquarters with a dozen plus leaders and support personnel wandering about between makeshift tables covered with portable gear, including comm equipment.
There were three guards with assault rifles that went down quickly, surprised by the sudden, almost silent arrival of the armored soldiers through the side door. The quiet puffs of their stinger weapons didn’t draw any alarm from the others immediately either, only a few turned heads followed by wide eyes. A pair of the leaders got off a few shots with their sidearms, all of which missed as Paul and Emily split up, running and juking about the room, taking down each of the personnel with precise shots before moving on to the next room, which held the control center as an adjunct.
Two more Chinese troops were present, unarmed, and apparently sorting through the stacks of Star Force supplies that had been scrounged from the other levels. They went down without incident and Emily jumped over one of them enroute to the control room, where she waited outside for Paul to catch up. He went in first, with her swinging around and following him in support.
“Empty?” he said after pulling a quick search of the medium sized room to make sure nobody was napping behind a chair or console.
Emily took one look around and did an about face, taking up guard position inside the short walkway that connected back the way they’d come. “Ok, they’re officially stupid. Get busy.”
Paul dropped his rifle on a tabletop within easy reach and began detaching his gloves, pulling out sweaty hands to access the keyboard controls that the blunt fingertips of his armor couldn’t manipulate. First thing he did was pull up the security door diagram for the entire complex, which showed which were locked, open, and malfunctioning. A string of doors on the lower levels were showing damage, ostensibly from his teammates to keep their movement options open, otherwise every single stairwell door below level 9 had been locked, but the handful of lateral access doors on the levels were still open.
“Open sesame,” Paul said, triggering every functional door in the spaceport to open. “Now, where’s that tank?”
“Control room secure,” Emily reported over the team comm.
“That didn’t take long,” Megan commented.
“Guards were pretty light, and I think we just took out their base of operations. Now, if one of you would like to get up here and tag me, I’ll start shooting people for you.”
“Open the security doors and we’d be happy to,” Randy commented.
Emily glanced back at Paul.
“Sorry, had my comm linked to you,” he said, taking a moment away from the keyboard to adjust his comm protocols. “All security doors are open, you are now free to move about the facility at your leisure.”
Paul tapped a few more keys, then amended his statement. “Is anyone in section 4 of level 9?”
Nobody chimmed in, so he altered his comm again to the 5s’ frequency. “Kerrie, you guys have anyone in section 4 of level 9?”
“Paul? When did you get here?”
“A few minutes ago. We did an end run around your friends and just retook the control room. I’ve got the tank located and I’m about to lock it down, but I need to know if we’ve got anyone in that section.”
“If you were within arms’ reach I’d kiss you.”
“I’m here,” Emily broke in, also now on the 5s’ frequency. “You want me to do it for you?”
“Level report, guys,” she said instead to her teammates. “Anyone on 9?”
A series of negatives reported in, then fell silent as they got back to playing their cat and mouse games with the enemy.
Paul switched over to dual frequencies, so he could talk to everyone at the same time. “Listen up, I’m about to lock down section 4 of level 9 with their pet tank inside. We’ll deal with it after we clear out the rest of the troops. With the rest of the doors open you should be able…”
“Paul, hold up. I’m not clear yet,” Jason said, out of breath.
“How much time do you need?”
“Just a few seconds…keep your finger on the button. I’ll tell you when to hit it.”
“Standing by,” Paul said, keying all the doors in that section to respond to the same command. He waited a long time, hearing nothing but heavy breathing and the almost undetectable sound of footfalls, followed by a large bang of a grenade and a crunch of armor plates.
“Now!” Jason yelled.
Paul smashed the button into the board and watched the display. It took four seconds for all the little green icons around section 4 to switch over to red, during which a hail of gunfire was audible over the team comm.
“I’m through,” Jason reported.
“You hit?”
“A few scuffs, nothing major. Stay put and play with the doors as we call in, help us divide them up a bit.”
“Someone needs to come get my ammo then,” Paul said, already searching through security camera footage to find out where the enemy concentration was the highest.
“Tyr, Ross, head up and give them a hand,” Kerrie suggested.
“On it,” Tyr confirmed.
“Everybody who wants a weapon, our friends have a stash up here of stinger pistols,” Emily reported as she visually scanned the captured equipment spread out across the room in front of her. “Looks like they cleaned out what was left of the security armory and brought it all up here. Should be able to scrounge enough ammo to refill your rifles.”
“I’ll get it,” Jason offered. “Rendezvous at that little switchback where we set up the barricades.”
“Level 8?” Kerrie asked to make sure.
“That’s the one,” Jason said, his breathing heavy again. “Ke
ep them distracted until I get back. Last thing we want is them rushing the control room.”
“Jason, might want to lock down level 1 until we get there,” Kerrie suggested.
“Already thought of that, but one of the doors is damaged. Probably where they blew through to get in here the first time.”
“I’ve got it covered,” Emily said assertively. “Get hunting.”
8
Eight hours later…
The security door opened up, with Jason and Paul waiting on the other side. As soon as they had a gap they ran through, with the rest of the 2s following them in. Randy and Jack took up position at the doorway to make sure no one slipped out the back while the others went after the tank.
With Olivia up in the control room and the rest of the 5s guarding strategic positions throughout the otherwise clear spaceport, the 2s had opted to tackle the last nest of enemy troops, considering that they were the more rested, though to be honest they were all in a desperate need of sleep by now.
As Jason led the way the others broke off by pairs down separate hallways, fanning out and taking different directions to the location where the security cameras said the tank and its handlers were. In all, there were 40-50 Chinese contained within section 4 of level 9, none with enough explosives to break through the security doors, though they had tried using grenades, which had done little more than jamb the doors enough that the Archons couldn’t remotely unlock them. Fortunately there were multiple access points, with the 2s choosing the least popular one.
Another reason for leaving the 5s out of the assault was the limited ammunition they had remaining. They’d given the 2s all the stingers they had left, but as it was Paul, Megan, and Ivan carried stun sticks only, and those were already partially depleted.
Jason had his semi-full rifle to complement Paul, who was also carrying a bandoleer of captured grenades, knowing that it was going to take more than paint to take out the tank. He’d been elected for that duty given his propensity for dealing with rovers…and the fact that he and Emily were the two with the most energy remaining.
