The Battle for Lashmere

by Michael Freeport

  “Um, one moment, sir,” Hilleman said. He tapped at his console for a few seconds. “With refueling stops, cooldown times plus fifty percent for safety, he should be ready to make the first hop towards the Ulef system in just over five hours.”

  “That’s how long we have to keep these Woduur here. Wait until the eight that are moving towards each other are in close proximity and then let’s have one of the drones start active emissions. If we give them a hint, they might just stay here.”

  “Aye, sir,” Hilleman said.

  The silence stretched. The two Woduur ships still searching were on opposite sides of the system. The other eight were moving above the plane of the ecliptic. Once they were at their designated point, Patho said, “Okay, Exec. Activate one of the drones.”

  The main plot displayed the drone location and power levels it was ordered to produce. Patho watched curiously, hoping the drone would go for several more minutes until it was detected. When the drone did pass the Woduur’s detection threshold, their reaction was immediate. The ships turned in perfect synchronicity and charged towards the drone’s location.

  “Exec, note the power level the drone was at when it was exposed and set our operating limit there. Add in a twenty percent threshold for safety.”

  “Aye, sir. That doesn’t give us a very large operating envelope.”

  “I’ll take it,” Patho said. “It’s better than hoping the Woduur won’t notice us.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hilleman said. “We’re approaching the asteroid belt, sir.”

  “Good. Power up the manufacturing ring. I want to make a quick pass and gather enough material for at least thirty more drones. Don’t bother building them here, we’ll use the internal bays. Just max out on materials.” Gorgon had not had a chance to restock on supplies since he’d left for the Ulef system. “Fill everything to capacity, Exec.”

  “Aye, sir.” He tapped at his console. “All hands, reallocate materials per computer orders.”

  The main plot showed four of the Woduur ships make short FTL transits across the system to concentrate on the area where the drone lurked.

  “Sir, I think they’ve detected our ring powering up. Four ships are headed this way.

  “Activate drones one through twelve per program. Give them multiple targets to chase.”

  A sudden speckling of energy sources appeared across the system. The drones couldn’t maintain the emissions signature needed to imitate the Gorgon for very long with the limited power they were able to store, but it was enough to at least confuse the situation for the Woduur.

  The ring ship formation changed yet again, all ten ships separated widely. One ship remained in the area, searching for the decoy drone. “So far, so good,” Patho mused. “Let’s hope we can keep them guessing.”

  “Ring active, sir. We’re getting materials, now.” Guiles’ screen started displaying a compositional analysis of the asteroids Gorgon flew over. “Well, mostly iron, nickel and silicate compounds, sir. Only traces of what we’re after. It’ll take a long time to gather what we need at this rate.”

  “Keep at it, Mister Guiles.” The Woduur were still milling about, but two ships were turning towards Gorgon. Patho watched them carefully. “Maneuver us around to the far side of the asteroid belt from those two ships. I want to use the asteroids as a shield in case they make an FTL transit across the system,” Patho said.

  “Aye, sir,” Hilleman said. Just as the words left the executive officer’s mouth, both ships streaked across the plot, stopping just over sixty-thousand kilometers from Gorgon.

  Patho felt his guts twist in sudden anticipation of close action. “Maximum acceleration. Send out a pulse comm to all drones to drop back into passive mode.”

  Gorgon twisted away from the hulking dreadnaughts and accelerated hard. The Woduur ring ships turned and started their pursuit. “Drop four mines, Exec. Set them to latch onto the Woduur ships and detonate at our command.”

  Aye, sir,” Hilleman said. A few seconds later, “Mines away. Estimate contact in just over two minutes.”

  “Keep us steady on, don’t give the Woduur a reason to turn away.” The mines vanished almost immediately from the sensors. Despite the fact that Gorgon was accelerating as fast as possible, the ring ships started to make up ground a few seconds later. “How long until they are a hundred thousand kilometers away, Exec?”

  Hilleman updated the plot with an intercept marker and then said, “Six minutes, sir. Plenty of time.”

  “Enough for the mines do their work, Exec. Spool up the point to point drive. I want to make a tactical jump across the system. Plot us to come out with plenty of distance to get back into stealth.”

  “Aye, sir,” Hilleman said. He worked his console for a half a minute and then said, “Jump coordinates on screen now, sir.”

  Patho validated the calculations and said, “Jump as calculated, Exec.”

  Gorgon steadied to make its FTL transit, and Hilleman said, “Sir, one of the other ring ships is headed this way.” His voice was calm, but if the forming jump ring and the Woduur FTL system interacted, the enemy ship could be ripped apart, and Gorgon could be severely damaged.

  “Let’s get our jump done before they get here,” Patho said. As the words left his mouth, the Woduur ship shot across the system. The Woduur used a system essentially identical to what the Alliance used, but with far greater top speeds, at least in bursts. The mass nullification field and the human jump rings both manipulated space-time, but in different ways. If the two systems interacted, the carefully balanced forces that allowed the jump rings to form would be thrown into chaos.

  The Woduur ship got caught as two points several light minutes apart suddenly tried to move back to where they were supposed to be. There was a spectacular flash of discharging energy, and the ring ship deformed, and then tore into several large pieces. Some of the pieces then exploded.

  Patho didn’t have time to relish his victory. His energy accumulators exploded, and all power shut down on his tiny ship. He felt himself thrown from his command chair and lost consciousness as he went headlong into something.

  Chapter 16

  The large map of Istyul City dominated the table in the command center around which Valencia, Cooper, and McCandless stood. The Karn sniper and his small team had returned several times over the last few days, frequently bringing updated intel. On this occasion, the information they brought was disturbing.

  “We found him wandering, naked, just inside the perimeter of the no-go zone,” McCandless said. His eyes were just as hard as the day they’d met, but this time, there seemed to be an edge of anger in them. The no-go zone is what they were calling the cleared area just inside the ring.

  “Has he said anything at all?” Valencia asked.

  “No, Sergeant. He just stares off into space, and sometimes he cries or whines, but no words,” McCandless said. “We have to find out why they’ve done this.”

  “I agree. The problem isn’t one of what to do; it’s one of getting into their ship. We’ve got over three hundred confirmed kills between us and their patrols are just as numerous as the first day.”

  “Aye. The ship is huge. They might have thousands of troops or more in there. What we need is a way to make a breach across the no-go zone.” McCandless drew his finger to a point on the map. “Here, this is a tall building. Used to be a bunch of offices and stuff like that. Nothing dangerous. Let’s blow it up. If it falls right, the debris should cover the zone and give us a place to attack the Woduur with some protection from their weapons.”

  “I like the idea, but I’d rather do it in more than one location. Are there any other suitable buildings we could collapse at the same time?” Valencia’s eyes searched the map like so many times before, the only thing it truly told him was that he was surrounded and outnumbered.

  “I don’t think so. There’s a couple of old smokestacks here and here,” McCandless pointed at the map, “we might knock over, but there’s not much there to provide
cover.” He shook his head and said, “But it could be done.”

  “I don’t know. It looks too dangerous.”

  McCandless said, “And what do you expect us to do? Wait until we’re all mindless like that man we found? We have to attack, or they’ll be in control of the tactical situation no matter where we go.” McCandless’ voice never rose above the gravelly, gruff tone it normally had, but it grew in intensity.

  “It’s not that. The kind of attack you want to carry out gives the Woduur the opportunity to focus their firepower. We can’t attack them where they’re strong. The only safe assumption I can make is that we’re wildly outnumbered by an enemy who also has a decisive technological advantage. We need another way to get into the ring itself. Attacking across the surface is a death sentence, collapsed buildings or not.”

  “Well, what do you propose, then, son?” McCandless stared hard at him across the map.

  “Do we have a good map of the subways and underground utility networks?”

  Cooper said, “No, Sarge. I have one of the travel maps, but it doesn’t show the actual location of the tunnels. We’ll need to get into some kind of city planning office or something.”

  “That building is under the ring itself,” McCandless said. “I doubt the Woduur took the time to save all those vital city records.”

  “Fine. We’ll have to make some scouting runs. Coop, what’s the closest subway station?”

  “Hospital station right across the street, Sarge.”

  “Right, of course.” Valencia grimaced internally. He’d walked by that station numerous times since the invasion started. “I’ll lead a recon into the tunnels at oh-four-hundred. McCandless, your team is welcome to join us.”

  The Karn sniper shook his head. “No. My talents lie in staying at a distance. Those tunnels are going to be nothing but close quarters combat. I can have one of my teams provide support if you have a long-range engagement, but you Marines are better suited to fighting in those tunnels.”

  “Okay. Now, let’s talk about this guy you found.”

  McCandless said, “He was wandering, naked and with several wounds on his head and neck. He doesn’t speak at all. Like I said. He’s either some kind of mental case or the clackers are running experiments on the people they’re capturing.” McCandless had picked up the term clackers for the Woduur somewhere or made it up for himself. It referred to the sound the Woduur made when they ran across a hard surface like pavement or concrete.

  “Too bad we can’t find a way to identify him,” Cooper said.

  “I think the big base up north has a few enforcement division people. We might be able to get him up there and let them take a look at him.”

  The northern ‘base’ was actually a large group of low ranking marines and enforcement officers all clustered in the basement below a shopping center. “Better than keeping him here,” Cooper said.

  “Do you mind taking him, McCandless?” Valencia asked.

  McCandless didn’t look happy, but he said, “Fine.”

  Valencia nodded. “Good. Everyone else, get plenty of sleep. We have an early start tomorrow. Sergeant Skorn will be in command while I’m gone.

  The tunnel leading away from the station yawned before Valencia and his small team like a passageway into utter darkness. Getting into the station itself was no challenge. The invasion provided no warning and left little time for people to consider locking things up behind them as they fled for cover.

  The four-man team advanced into the pitch black. Cooper took point and Valencia brought up the rear. Twenty minutes of careful advancement got them to a split in the tunnel. There were signs, but they were numbers that had no meaning to Valencia and his team. Valencia’s nerves started to hum in anticipation. Even with his suit sensors, his team was relying on passive movement sensors which were sound based. There was insufficient light for any of the low light systems to work and there was very little thermal variation in the materials. Valencia kept his rifle up and at the ready.

  “Which way, Sarge?”

  Valencia jumped at the sudden sound of Cooper’s voice coming from the vague shape in front of him. He consulted the small map programmed into his suit computer and then pointed to the left. “This way. Right leads back towards the center of town.”

  Cooper started advancing down the tunnel once again. The heavy tread of his power armor echoing hollowly off of the smooth walls of the subway tunnel. Cooper caught the indistinct shape of a subway car looming out of the darkness. He raised his hand in a clenched fist. The rest of the team stopped and crouched, scanning in all directions. Cooper crab walked a few steps forward, watching his suit sensors intensely.

  A few minutes later, having detected nothing, Cooper stood and raised his hand, making a waving forward motion. The rest of the team stood as well and followed along. The line of subway cars occupied half the tunnel. The car appeared to have stopped hurriedly. All of the passenger doors were open. Valencia snapped his flashlight on. The illumination revealed some personal possessions left behind. Valencia tapped his fingers twice sharply against the barrel of his rifle. The rest of his team stopped and gathered around.

  Valencia raised his faceplate and spoke in a low voice. “Cooper, take Hawkins and recon that train. I’ll keep overwatch with Moreno. Pick up anything we can use, especially any computers you find. Food, water, anything else.”

  Cooper nodded and clapped Hawkins on the shoulder. The two men boarded the train and started working their way along the car. Valencia lowered his faceplate and nodded at Moreno. She turned and advanced a few meters back the way they’d come to stand guard.

  Several tense minutes later, Cooper and Hawkins emerged from the train. Once the team had reassembled, Cooper said, “I got three computers, one charger and about a liter of water. We didn’t find any food or anything else. Just some clothes and a couple of discarded wrist comps.” The wrist comps were linked to the user’s genetic profile and would not function without a continuous sample of the authorized genetic material through a small skin sensor.

  The small group of warriors headed further into the tunnel. A few minutes later, Cooper once again thrust his hand up, causing them to stop. He dropped and moved back to Valencia.

  “Sarge I have a heat reading up ahead. It looks like at least one and possibly two or three people.”

  Valencia sighed. “We’re scouting, Coop. We can’t bring civvies with us.”

  Cooper nodded. “On it.” He quickly moved ahead and crept around the bend. It opened onto the ramp up to another platform for the next stop from where they had entered the subway system. There were a man, woman, and a small child huddled in a pile of filthy blankets in one corner. Cooper stood next to them, making soothing hand gestures.

  Valencia waved Hawkins and Moreno to watch the edge of the platform and moved to the trio of civilians. “What’s the word, Coop?”

  “Just some survivors, Sarge.”

  “Have you seen any of the invaders down here?” Valencia asked the three people.

  The man shook his head. His voice quavered as he spoke. “We haven’t seen anyone since the first day, only those creatures. When the monsters started coming out of the side streets, we ran down here and hid.”

  “Have they been coming down here?”

  “Once or twice, but we just hid in the ticket office until they went past. Please, do you have any water? My daughter is sick.”

  Valencia gritted his teeth against the request. “Can you make it to the next stop down?” He pointed back the way they’d come.

  The man looked at the woman holding his child. She shook her head. “I don’t think so. What’s down there?”

  Valencia weighted the danger of revealing too much information. “Hawk, Moreno, get these people to base. Cooper and I will hold here. Make it fast.”

  The civilians were quickly herded back down the tunnel. Cooper set up a buzzer, a small sensor that would send an alert if it detected movement, at the tunnel back towards the base a
nd then took up a position watching over the other tunnel and the entrance to the subway platform.

  After thirty minutes, Valencia traded positions with Moreno. They only had to wait a few more minutes before the buzzer warned them of Cooper and Hawkins’ return.

  “They’re back at base, Sarge,” Cooper said.

  Valencia nodded. “Good. Cooper, you’re back on point. Keep on towards the edge of the city.”

  Cooper nodded and moved towards the far side of the station. Once again, the small team moved into the oppressive darkness. The silence stretched on for long minutes. Debris became increasingly common as the Marines advanced towards the edge of the city.

  Valencia gritted his teeth against his increasingly sharp sense of trepidation. The tunnel’s darkness combined with the fact that they could not use active sensors without signaling their location to every Woduur in the city made the entire experience quite nerve-wracking.

  Cooper stopped and tapped three times against his rifle barrel. Movement detected ahead. Valencia, Hawkins, and Moreno spread out and looked for cover. A few seconds later, Valencia’s passives caught the movement. A cluster of vague sound reflections was being interpreted by his suit computer as coming towards the small group.

  Light appeared around the bend in the tunnel ahead. The distinctive clack of Woduur metal legs against the ground made it to Valencia’s audio pick up a few seconds later. He keyed his external speaker and said, “Weapons hot, projectile rounds. Check your targets.”

  He toggled the small power source in his weapon. The reticle popped up on his helmet display. Next to the reticle was the round count. The rifle held 90 slugs per magazine. He had seventy-four left in his sole remaining load. “Single fire, people.”

  He heard a chorus of affirmative responses when the first Woduur came into view. Cooper dropped it with a single shot clean through the head. The cracking report of the rifle filled the tunnel. Valencia kicked his suit sensors into full active mode and shouted, “Weapons free!”