Anyway, Cragen was speaking. "You all know the strengths and weaknesses of the Javelin missile. Our allies have helped us with the main weakness; the infrared targeting system. The manual says the infrared seeker cools down in a couple seconds, but we all know that depends on the conditions you're in; when it's ninety eight degrees in the desert or jungle, it takes longer to go active. The Kristang have given us kits to upgrade the seeker on the FGM-148 Bravo, it now cools fully down in less than half a second. And it stays cool for up to half an hour, so you don't have to worry about using it right away. After half an hour, you have to turn it off, but ten minutes later, you can activate it again. Be aware that every time you do use it, it won't stay cool as long, that's all in the manual. The seeker's imaging system is also upgraded, so if you've ever had trouble, on a hot day, getting the weapon to recognize a target that is almost as hot as its surroundings, that is no longer a problem. Also, once you identify a target to the weapon, it will stay locked, even if you or the target move."
There was a scattering of slow, ironic clapping. Cragen gave us a sour look. "I know you people expected laser rifles, and nukes the size of a hand grenade when you came out to the stars. We don't have that, this is what we have," he hefted the Javelin Bravo over his head. "And we're going to fight to the very best of our ability."
What he didn't say is, our ability to fight would be greater if we had better weapons. Whatever. The Army says we fight with the force we have, not the force we'd like to have. Hooah.
After a mildly depressing and disillusioning week of training for space warfare with essentially the same weapons I'd used in Nigeria, we finally got a truly hightech new toy to play with. The Javelin Bravo antitank missile, like our original Javelin, had a minimal antiair capability, limited to use against low-flying helicopters. The Kristang must have decided that none of our MANPAD missiles, that is MAN Portable Air Defense, were useful in this conflict. I'd used our Stinger missiles in training, never in combat, and it was a damned good missile against helicopters, drones, slow fixed wing aircrafts, and even jets if you got lucky and the jet didn't cross out of range before you got the Stinger set up and targeted. Against supersonic dropships that could climb vertically into orbit, I couldn't see a Stinger giving us any chance. I'd seen even our captured Ruhar Chicken gunships go from hover mode to zooming straight up at amazing speed. Everyone I knew agreed us ground pounders needed to do something serious against the air threat, or any combat situation would be game over before we got started.
The MANPAD missile the Kristang provided to us, we instantly named the Zinger, of course. It weighed about thirty pounds, not much different from a Stinger, the difference being the Zinger targeting system was built into the launch tube and was disposable, whereas with our Stinger, you had to attach the targeting system box to the disposable launch tube when you wanted to fire the missile. A Zinger could climb up to eighty thousand feet, it was hypersonic, and if it missed one target, it could look around and decide to engage another target on its own, or the user could redirect its targeting via zPhone, or it could talk to other Zingers in the area to get targeting advice. Its wings could also deploy wide so the missile could loiter in the area up to twenty minutes before its fuel was exhausted, that feature meant we could fire it ahead of time into an airspace before the enemy arrived giving the user time to get the hell out of there.
The Zinger got a genuine, enthusiastic reception when it was shown to us, and we got to use it for real against drones. Unlike practicing with Stingers, where the US Army mostly had us firing little flares instead of expensive missiles, the Kristang had no problem with us expending ammunition, even though our practice rounds had the warheads disabled. It was immensely satisfying for us grunts to see drone targets knocked out of the air.
Then it got tougher. The drones we fired at initially were dumb, they could maneuver a bit to avoid missiles, but had minimal defensive capability. Next, we practiced against drones that simulated Ruhar aircraft and dropships like Chickens, Buzzards and the nasty dropship gunship we called a Vulture. They all had laser or particle beam defensive turrets that could confuse, fry or outright destroy a Zinger, even with the Zinger jinking on approach to avoid the beam defenses. Zingers also had to deal with electronic countermeasures, and those weren't only in the infrared or microwave spectrum, Ruhar aircraft had an active stealth capability that made them difficult to see even in the visible spectrum. With active stealth engaged, the aircraft didn't become invisible, what happened was the air around them rippled, distorting their shapes, and multicolored lights blinked on and off in an envelope around the aircraft, making it hard to tell exactly where it was. The tactics we were taught to use by the Kristang was to fire multiple Zingers at a target. In practice, we could pick up a Zinger tube, unfold the targeting screen from the side of the tube, designate a target, and fire in less than a minute. One Zinger team of two people could carry and fire four Zingers, in theory, with one person operating the missile system and the other person acting as a spotter. Keep in mind, two Zingers weighed over sixty pounds, and while carrying a Zinger you were expected to still be loaded down with a rifle, ammo, canteen, zPhone, body armor, and anything else UNEF expected a sharp-dressed soldier to lug around with him or her. Of course, while setting up for a second shot, the enemy air would be looking for you and shooting back, which tended to shorten the user's life expectancy, and therefore combat effectiveness. That last comment wasn't a joke I made up, by the way, it was written right into the user manual we got from our patrons the Kristang. They needed to work on their public relations, big time.
Anyway, with the Zingers, for the first time us UNEF grunts felt we were being semi-properly equipped for the fight, and that we didn't need to only hunker down in foxholes and die in combat. We could shoot back. Shoot only up to eighty thousand feet, true, we couldn't do anything about ships in orbit. It gave us hope. If the Kristang trusted us with their toys, and supplied us plenty, they were planning for us to do something useful in combat. Wherever that would be.
Most of our training time at Camp Alpha wasn't spent learning to use our new or modified weapons. It was refresher training, for soldiers like me, who had been harvesting crops and helping civilians since the Ruhar attacked. The work I'd done with the National Guard in Maine had been hard, back-breaking labor, but hadn't prepared me for combat. Until I got to Camp Alpha, the last time I'd fired a rifle, other than hunting, was in Nigeria. I was rusty and a bit out of shape. Hikes with hundred pound rucksacks, hand to hand combat training and running obstacle courses toughened me up quick, and I was glad for it. The Ruhar weren't going to take it easy on me, it was better to be sore and exhausted now, than not prepared when we went into action.
Running in heat beat the crap out of me. Running in extra gravity beat the crap out of me. Combine them, and my legs were shaking from exhaustion after only a few miles. Cornpone fell to his knees and puked his guts out three times on our first five mile run. After that, Sergeant Koch decided we'd be getting up extra early, to run before it got hot. On Camp Alpha, the temperature was like an On or Off switch, when the star came over the horizon in the morning, it got hot fast. At sunset, the temperature plummeted. The third morning saw us sliding out of our bunks to run in the predawn cold. A day on Camp Alpha was a bit over 28 hours, our schedule left time for seven solid hours of rack time, even with rising early.
Without the daytime heat, we only had to deal with the extra gravity. And the blowing, burnt-smelling grit. And the crushing disappointment that coming out to the stars hadn't meant we'd been transformed into super soldiers. We would become super soldiers the old fashioned way, Sergeant Koch announced, through hard work. Those were inspiring words until about the two mile mark, when we were gasping for breath.
Our fireteam wasn't the only group up early for exercise, the second morning we were running, we were about a mile from the base on the return leg when we came around the side of a hill and there was a half dozen people on the other side, also he
aded back to base. Without anyone needing to say anything, we picked up our pace. And so did they. And the other group upped the ante. Soon we were sprinting. I pulled ahead, I'd been a runner since I was a little kid and my mother brought me out running with her. The other group had two fast runners, then one. Ahead of us, the trails converged, I reached the intersection just ahead of the other runner, then he pulled even with me and we ran as fast as we could, while our teams behind us cheered.
Only he wasn't a he, he was a she, I would have known from the short ponytail bobbing behind her head if I’d been paying attention. Damn. I knew her sort of, she was in our brigade support battalion, her name was Shauna or something like that, but I hadn't seen her since like a month before I rotated home from Nigeria. Crap, I didn't know she was so fast. She pulled ahead of me, only a foot, two feet, but I could not catch her, no matter how much effort I put into it. She was struggling too, her footing was wobbly and her breathing was as ragged as my own. We shot past the two big boulders that marked the unofficial edge of the base and I collapsed to my knees, having to use my hands to push myself back to my feet to walk it off. She stood next to me, hands on her knees, gasping. "Damn."
"Shit yeah." I replied. "You trying to kill me?"
"Hey, you were pushing me."
I held out a hand. "Joe Bishop."
"Yeah, I know you, you're the Barney guy, right? Shauna Jarrett." We shook hands.
"You want my autograph?" I was only half joking. The whole Barney thing was getting really old for me.
She cocked her head. "Why, does the Barney thing get you laid a lot?"
A light bulb went on in my head. Yes, I know, every time a girl smiles at a guy, he's hopeful that she's interested, but this time I thought she really might be. "Not so far," I winked.
She laughed, and it was beautiful. "You keep hoping, Joe." The other people in our groups arrived, and Shauna got backslaps for winning our impromptu race. Shauna and her group started to walk away.
If there was any sort of opportunity there, I wasn't going to let it get away. We were a long, long way from Earth, at war, and there weren't a whole lot of women within a thousand lightyears of Camp Alpha. "Hey, Shauna, I'll see you around?"
To my delight, she smiled at me back over her shoulder. "Maybe?"
Along with getting familiar with new equipment, and getting back into proper condition, we had classroom time, which was us sitting on the dirt floor of a tent, listening to lectures about the enemy, our allied command structure, and most importantly, The Rules. It all blew my mind when I first heard it, so I'll explain it slow. Best you get comfortable, because there will be a pop quiz at the end.
I'll wait while you get yourself a beer.
Comfy?
Ok, first, some background intel for you. The Kristang were not at the top of the allied coalition, which I already figured, from the fact they needed to hitch an interstellar ride on a Thuranin star carrier. What was news to me was that the Thuranin weren't at the top either. The allied coalition is led by cat-like aliens called the Maxohlx. Rumored to be cat-like, since no human, and very few Kristang, had ever seen one. As humans were unlikely to ever see a Maxohlx in my lifetime, all I'll say about them is they are an ancient species, with incredible technology. Surely when the Maxohlx fought, they were armed with something better than an M-fucking-4. And I know 'Maxohlx' is an odd name, it was the best our G2 people could think of to spell how the word sounds when the Kristang said it.
The home planet of the Maxohlx is two thirds of the way around the galaxy from Earth, if that means anything to you, which it doesn't to me. It's far, far away. The Thuranin, we learned, were themselves not unique, they were only responsible for a small slice of the galaxy under Maxohlx control, and the Kristang handled a couple thousand cubic lightyears under Thuranin control. The Maxohlx had other second tier species besides the Thuranin, and the Thuranin had two other species under their command, that we knew of, besides the Kristang. The Thuranin are sort of little green men, they are shorter than the average human, but humanoid, with two legs, two arms, two eyes and a bald head. Humans who had talked with the Kristang got the impression that the Kristang didn't like their 'patrons', and the feeling was mutual; the Thuranin are disdainful of any species with lesser technology. I wonder what they thought of pitiful humans.
On the enemy side, the situation was similar. At the top were the Rindhalu, who are creepy looking spider type things. Just thinking about it made my skin crawl. Their second tier allies, in this quadrant of the galaxy, are the Jeraptha, who are almost as creepy, being insects. The Jeraptha aren't a hive mind like bees, they are more like beetles. The Ruhar are a client species of the Jeraptha, the same way the Kristang were clients of the Thuranin. Based on some things the Kristang said, our G2 intel people speculated the Ruhar had slightly better technology than the Kristang.
Kristang propaganda, I say propaganda because that's what it sounded like to me, said the Rindhalu were older, much older, than the Maxohlx, and had tried to suppress the development of other intelligent species in the galaxy, until the righteous Maxohlx rebelled, many thousands of years ago. The allies were fighting for the right of intelligent species to develop on their own, while the enemy species were slaves of the creepy spider Rindhalu, who wanted total control of the galaxy. For an advanced species, the Kristang had remarkably clumsy propaganda. Think Soviet Union, or North Korea, or Nazi Germany. We allies are fighting the evil enemy for the glorious and virtuous common people! Under the magnificent guidance of our supreme leaders, our righteous cause will triumph! Strength through unity! And so on. Anyway, that's what we were told. I'm sure the truth is more complicated, it always is.
The incredible technology of the Maxohlx and the Rindhalu did not extend to creating, or even operating, the wormholes that made long-range interstellar flight practical. Those wormholes were created millions of years ago, by a long-gone species that is unknown, other than what they left behind. The Kristang called the wormhole-builders the Elders. Wormholes didn't care who went through them, and there was no known way to control one, or shut it off. Or damage it, even a nuke had no effect. The wormholes worked, and that's all we needed to know.
Then we got to The Rules.
The Rules were the Rules Of Engagement for combat. They applied to both sides, and were strictly enforced by the Maxohlx and the Rindhalu. The Rules explained why the war had been going on for many thousands of years, why both sides hadn't wiped each other out a long time ago. The basis of The Rules was that the Maxohlx and the Rindhalu couldn't afford to seriously fight each other directly, in the same way that America and China couldn't fight each other. On Earth, countries with megatons of nukes couldn't fight without destroying their own countries. Out in the galaxy, species with weapons that made nukes look like firecrackers also could not afford to fight each other directly. So they fought through their client species, and those species also had clients, and so on. Most of the actual fighting and dying was done by third-tier species like the Ruhar and the Kristang. And by their clients. Like humans.
Anyway, here are The Rules.
You'd better grab a pencil and paper.
Rule Number One; no use of nukes, or other types of radiological weapons, on or near an inhabited planet, or even potentially habitable planet. No antimatter either, because such a weapon produces hard radiation even if it is short-lived. This rule was listed first, because the Maxolhx and the Rindhalu didn't want their grubby underlings contaminating a planet they may later want for themselves. Even in the vastness of the Milky Way, the number of habitable planets within practical range of a wormhole was limited, so both sides didn't want useful planets removed from productive use because some jackass went crazy with nukes.
Rule Number Two was no chemical weapons, for the same reason as Rule Number One. Nasty chemicals could linger in the environment for a long, long time. They didn't quite say that any species abandoning a planet was supposed to sweep up after themselves and take their trash with them
, I figured that was implied.
Rule Number Three, no use of nano weapons. Nanotech was widely used to make things, but it could not be used as a weapon. Even the Kristang weren't sure of the basis for this rule, but ancient rumor held there was an incident where nanotech go loose, and caused that entire star system to be quarantined, permanently. Hence, nano weapons were a huge November Golf in the war.
Rule Number Four, no biological weapons. This rule wasn't so much to protect the Maxohlx and the Rindhalu, because species were different enough that a pathogen deadly to one species mostly had no effect on others. This rule was more like a Geneva Convention sort of thing; where the combatants agreed not to do something to the enemy, so the enemy wouldn't do it to them. Otherwise, each side could simply drop stealth missiles with canisters of biological weapons into the atmosphere of enemy planets, and soon no one would be left alive on either side.
Rule Number Four was, we heard, a little sketchy in actual use, as viruses, bacteria and other biological hazards mutated over time, and if a known, natural virus became more contagious or deadly, who could say that didn't happen naturally? Rule Number Four was in place to prevent catastrophic biological attacks, but apparently a certain level of cheating was allowed, as long as it didn't get out of control, and no one got caught. The Kristang told us the Ruhar were notorious for pushing the limits on Rule Number Four. I'm sure the Ruhar would say the same thing about the Kristang. The bio weapons thing scared me, despite reassurance from the Kristang that the Ruhar didn't know enough about human biology to make a weapon effective against us. What scared me is the Kristang had medical technology far advanced beyond what humanity had brought to the stars, and they weren't sharing any of it with us. They said that without years of studying human biology, they couldn't safely apply their advanced technology to us. Which meant even a common flu virus, that some human brought with them from Earth, could be a serious problem for the Expeditionary Force. And that wounded troops had to be treated with whatever medical care was available on that planet. There would be no medivac flight back to the States on this campaign.
Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force Book 1) Page 7
