So, this thing is heading for Helios, and it just so happens it will be passing by us in less than two days. If only we were closer, we might be able to help.
The information on the loss of ships in the Helion taskforce was of concern, though he had little, if any respect for the Helion military command. The fact he had now been assigned the job of cleaning up after their failure rankled him. They might have been crippled by the period of infighting on Helios, but the revolution had been won, and from what he could see, the space forces of theirs were far more numerous than those of the Alliance.
Yet they continue to fail, and now I have to risk our ships for them, again.
The reports from the ships in his fleet were already there, and he was satisfied all his captains were ready for what he had in store for them. The list was impressive, especially with the arrival of ANS Valor to replace the heavily damaged ANS Savage from the battle with the automated fleet near Helios itself. His Strike Group had been expanded, thanks to the intervention of Admiral Anderson. Six more Hunter class frigates ships had joined the recently promoted Commodore Hampel to give the fleet a more substantial escort. Even better was the replacement of one of his Crusader class with a brand new Conqueror Class Battlecruiser, ANS Royal Oak. She wasn’t the first ship to have used the name, and as befitted her ancestors, she had been optimized for fleet defense as a fully-fledge fleet carrier.
Just look at those hangars, he said to himself with a smile.
Like all the new generation of warships, the Crusader and Conqueror class were built around the principle of a universal design. The basic hull was the same, but the mission units could be changed in dock to optimize the designs for different roles. His own flagship, ANS Conqueror was a general-purpose warship, much like the standard Crusader design. All the ships in the fleet could operate small groups of fighters and also carried Marine units on board. ANS Sentry and ANS Valor were equipped with marine transport mission units to allow the transport of more warriors. ANS Royal Oak, on the other hand, only had the space for a single company on board; the remaining space was used for hangar space and point defense units.
The first carrier of the Alliance, and she’s mine!
He took another sip and checked her statistics. They were impressive. Automation had reduced the total crew to just under one and a half thousand personnel plus an air group of six hundred. She could carry a tailored air group of up to forty aircraft, including all the current fighters, plus the new X57 Avenger fighter drones. After gazing at the units and spacecraft aboard the ship, he tapped his communication unit. With just a few presses, he started a video communication file.
“This is Priority One message to Admiral Anderson, commander of the outer territories and regional governor.”
He paused for a moment, composing his thoughts.
“I have checked the data sent via your office and that of Terra Nova High Command, and had my staff cross-reference it with our scans in this area. I can confirm C34A will arrive at the calculated hour. The distance from my current position will make interception impossible by all but a single frigate on patrol.”
He went to continue, but then spotted something very strange about the data that had just arrived from the T’Kari surveying ship that was halfway between the moon and the C34A. The more he looked at the data, the more he couldn’t believe his eyes. He reached out and hit the pause button on the device, retuning his gaze to the image of the comet and the projected path. It would pass nearby to the moon and then on for its rendezvous with Helios. All of this was known and confirmed, except that something in the last six hours had changed. Instead of continuing the message, he hit the button to Captain Shaw, his adjutant.
“Get the senior commanders here; I want a war-briefing in fifteen minutes.”
He didn’t even bother to wait for an acknowledgement. He moved back to the video communication and restarted it while grabbing for his jacket.
“New information has just arrived on my desk and is on its way, along with this message. I had been preparing the fleet for an operation to deflect the object, but something is different...according to the T’Kari surveying ship, C34A has altered its course by three degrees.”
He stopped for a moment, still not quite believing what he was seeing.
“The comet is on an approach vector for Eos and will be here in six days.”
He had to stop and think for a moment. Even as he had been speaking, the pages of assessments from the tacticians on the ship had arrived, and it all made for extremely uncomfortable reading. He slowed his breathing, calmed down, and continued.
“My officers are already assessing this data, but based on a first look, the comet will be able to enter orbit around slingshotting past us and on to Helios.”
He lowered his head and rubbed his brow.
This can’t be, surely not?
He lifted his head and looked into the screen, now wishing the distances were much shorter and that he could speak with Admiral Anderson in real-time. With the local Rift generator station destroyed, he was months away from either Helios or the Rift back home, and it suddenly filled him with a feeling of distance and loneliness.
We’re out here on our own. We have to help ourselves.
“This is no normal comet. It is under the guidance of a third party, one with vast resources, skills, and incredible technology. It is heading for Helios, and for some reason is going to perform an orbit of Eos before continuing on. I can only think this is for one reason.”
Again he stopped, his heart pounded in his chest.
“Admiral, there’s a reason why the Helion fleet was smashed so easily. There is more to this object than we were led to believe. In six days, it will be close enough to Eos...close enough to...”
To do what? You can’t be serious? He thought, barely believing what he was saying.
“...to potentially launch an attack on the moon itself.”
He leaned back in his tall chair.
“Either way, the 4th Heavy Strike Group will prepare for all eventualities.”
* * *
They inched forward from the first industrial vehicle and took up position behind a stone-faced bunker. It was open on the one side and filled with spare parts and heavy tooling. A thick layer of dust ran around all of it, cleared only by the heavy boots of the small group of marines. There was no more cover from the vehicle pool to the low wall running around the refinery plant storage blocks. Further back, the rest of the platoon spread out and inched forward in pairs, two covering while two moved. It was slow work, not helped by the sniper fire coming from the balcony on the third floor.
“Down!” Jack shouted.
He might not have been in charge of the squad, but the others listened to him. There was no time for worrying about seniority in a situation like this. Worrying about a rigid command structure would get people killed. The timing was perfect, as a volley of close range gunshots came in from the right. Jack dropped to one knee and twisted about his waist at ninety degrees, taking aim down the sight of his carbine. Through the low-magnification scope on his weapon, he could see the shape of an Animosh fighter. The cloak was the same as they always wore, but this one had his head covered in a sand colored scarf and wore thick goggles to protect against dust. He aimed at the fighter’s chest and squeezed the trigger. Three small red puffs marked the impacts, and the fighter was down.
Damn drones didn’t spot him!
He looked at his Corporal, who nodded a silent thanks before accessing the communications channel.
“Lieutenant, we’ve just been hit by a sniper on the right flank. Private Morato brought him down, but there might be more,” said Corporal Frewyn.
“Understand, Corporal, good work. Keep them busy. We’re moving in.”
Jack looked at the stonework in front of him that blocked his line of sight to the enemy in the multi-story building. The tagged overlay showed their seven outlines, but technically he could not see them. As he moved his muscles in his le
ft leg, another burst of gunfire ripped into the small amount of cover he’d managed to find.
“Corporal, what’s the plan?”
The older man threw him a short glance.
“You heard the Lieutenant; we provide covering fire so the other squads can get closer to the building.”
Another burst of a dozen rounds shattered the stonework above their heads, sending chunks of masonry down on them. It wasn’t sporadic gunfire but targeted and precise shooting designed to suppress them.
“Yeah, right!” snapped Jack, and he dropped down even lower.
“Looks to me like the only one getting any covering fire is them.”
Frewyn checked the drone information and noted no more targets had been identified in the area. Jack could see the concern on his face. The man might have been the most experienced in terms of training and age, but the command of a small squad seemed to confuse him. Finally, he looked to his squad mates.
“Be careful and try and pin them down. The others need our help, and right now we seem to have their attention.”
Jack reached out and grabbed his arm.
“Frewyn, are you sure? What about that guy back there? There could be more the drones didn’t spot.”
More fire clattered about them, and even Jack flinched at the fire. As before it was coming from the building, yet it was sporadic and wild.
“I don’t have a choice, now do it!”
The Corporal had finally found his voice, even if Jack found it hard to accept such foolhardy orders. He inched around to the left of the small structure and waited with his carbine up to his shoulder. Private Riku did the same on the right-hand side, but she had the larger bulk of the L48 rifle. The two looked at each other. Riku nodded first. They moved just a few centimeters around the cover and took aim with their weapons.
“Wait,” said Jack, a sly grin on his face, “I have an idea.”
Riku shook her head. She was all too familiar with Jack’s cunning plans and amazing ideas. In her experience, they tended to revolve around doing the unexpected and getting bruises at the same time.
“Well, what is it?” she asked.
Jack lifted a hand, telling her to give him a moment. He used his computer to select two of the nearest hexrotor drones. One was only a hundred meters from the building, doing its best to avoid the odd stray shot fired by the insurgents whenever they caught a glimpse of its small frame. Jack gave it a tactical order and then called out to Frewyn.
“Corporal, I need a drone override!”
Frewyn didn’t even check the order. He acknowledged the request and authorized it. Whether it was simply down to trust or just not knowing what to do, the order went through, and the drone twisted in the air as if an invisible hand had reached out, grabbed it, and then hurled it toward the ground. Just before it hit the dusty surface, it lifted up and rushed toward the balcony. Jack watched the view from one of the other higher drones with a look of nervous excitement on his face.
“Go, do it!”
The mechanical unit traveled at almost fifty kilometers per hour when it shattered through the double-sized window frame where the insurgents were sniping.
“Uh...Jack...what the hell?” chortled Private Riku.
All of them were now watching as the drone smashed its way inside and crashed into the room. The drone was no larger than a family dog, yet the speed of its attack and the fragments breaking off from the six ducted fans sent chunks of metal and plastic in all directions. Jack could barely contain his glee at the violence and destruction it caused.
“Now!” he cried.
Private Riku’s shot moved first from her weapon, but it was Jack’s that reached the target quickest. The muzzle velocity of the L52 carbine was higher than any other marine weapon in the inventory. Three magnetic projectiles struck the window frame around the enemy position on the top floor to no effect. Private Riku’s much larger explosive charge ripped through the wall and exploded in a small puff inside. A single body was blown from the window and dropped the three stories before crashing to the ground. One more came up as a KIA, and suddenly they were down from seven fighters to five, and the room had started to burn.
“Nice covering fire!” laughed Jack.
His amusement was short-lived though as dozens of rounds came from a balcony ten meters to the right of the original one. It was filled with the insurgents.
“They bugging out!” said Frewyn with a sense of relief and excitement.
Two handled what looked like a heavy machine gun, but rather than stopping, they moved in the opposite direction to what looked like a fire escape, except it ran around the rear of the building. In seconds, the enemy had vanished, and there were no obvious threats in front of the marines. That was the moment when Jack’s Corporal finally understood what he had to do.
“They’re getting away, follow me!” he cried.
Without even considering his own safety, he leapt up from the cover of the stonework and ran out into the open. Jack and the others didn’t wait and chased after their Corporal. With the lower gravity than normal, they ran and bounced in a slightly elongated arc that seemed almost comical. They were quickly over the perimeter wall and halfway to the building. Jack spotted a face looking toward them that vanished in a cloud of blood from a carbine shot. He didn’t even bother checking who had fired and kept moving ahead. As they reached the dusty wall of the three-story building, a flight of Hammerheads screamed overhead and moved out of view, leaving nothing but their roaring engines for them to even know they’d been there.
“All here?” asked Corporal Frewyn.
He looked at them, making sure Jack, Riku, Callahan, and Jenkell were all there before leaning out and checking the building.
“Looks clear to me. The drones show a doorway at the rear, lower level.”
In the distance, the rest of the marines continued to inch forward and made up half the distance before the clatter of machine gun fire forced them to take cover. The automatic weapon’s rate of fire was much lower than equipment used in the Alliance, and the thermal charges burned black holes in anything it struck.
“Nasty,” Riku muttered.
Frewyn looked at each of them and thumbed toward the building.
“We need to fix this and fast.”
Jack checked the ammunition marker on his overlay, and he still had an almost full magazine. There was no need to change it, certainly not when in such an exposed and dangerous position.
“Get in and rush the place before they can cause any more trouble. Now!”
There was no time for discussion, as once again their Corporal led from the front and along the side of the building. The gunfire continued, but it didn’t stop him. The man didn’t even wait for the drones to move into a better position. As they moved closer, Riku pulled out a stun grenade, one of the three types each of the marines carried. It was smaller than the usual fragmentation grenades and colored with yellow and black stripes along the top and bottom. She threw her body around the corner after the others and hurled the grenade with perfect precision. It spun through the air, landing right in the small doorway fifteen meters away.
“Flash!” she shouted, but Frewyn was not holding back.
The other marines were already around the next corner right on the heels of their Corporal and heading for the small doorway, when the metal door flew open and out ran a trio of Helions. All carried weapons, and their heads were covered in thin helmets with a ventilator unit that looked more like a gas mask on their faces. One spotted the marines and opened fire as the grenade activated. A bright white flash pulsed and blinded anybody not looking away or wearing the marine helmets. Like welding equipment, the visors blackened for just long enough to beat off the flash. In less than half a second, they returned to their normal slightly smoked look. Jack lurched to the left, hugging the wall and ran at them with all the speed he could muster.
“Spread out!” shouted Frewyn, but it was much too late. The first two rounds hit his collar and
bounced off the armor. The third and final round struck his arm in the joint and managed to penetrate the outer layer before embedding in his bone. He cried out and dropped his carbine. Private Jana Jenkell dropped down next to him, covering him with her carbine while the others continued forward. Callahan and Riku automatically moved to one knee and opened fire on the group, keeping their fire to the right to avoid striking Jack who was almost upon them. One was killed outright, and another of the Animosh staggered about, temporarily blinded. The Helion had already turned away from them, and instead of running, aimed his gun in the direction of the marines and held down the trigger. Thermal rounds clattered everywhere, and then Jack was amongst them. He ducked under the blow of the last remaining insurgent and struck with the butt of his carbine. Incredibly, the lithe and agile fighter pulled back his torso to avoid the strike and fired a shot at Jack.
“Bastard!” he cried, stumbling back.
The burning round left a scorch march along his flank where it had almost burned through. Another few centimeters, and it would have stuck his chest straight on. Even so, he stumbled and found himself falling before crashing onto his back. The insurgent was on him in a flash, but even he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the charge by Private Callahan. The man was like a bull and shoulder barged the alien. His bulk and strength sent the Helion flying through the air and crashing onto his side in the dirt.
“Stay down!” snapped Riku. She chased after him, her weapon pointing at his head. Only then did it occur to her he probably had no idea what she was saying.
Callahan helped Jack to his feet and looked over to Riku.
“Don’t worry, he understands. And if he doesn’t, you know what to do.”
Frewyn groaned from the pain of his injury, and Private Jenkell was already busy seeing to the damage. That left just the three of them plus the two prisoners waiting outside the doorway. Movement came from the corner of the building, and three marines charged around it with their weapons raised.
Star Crusades Nexus: The Second Trilogy Page 27
