“Understood,” Angel said.
“Alright, move in, Lieutenant. You are a Go!”
Angel didn’t say anything as she sprinted toward the horde. They were close enough that she could see their beady, black eyes nestled in the large cranial shields that covered their heads and hid their gaping mouths. Her fear made her muscles feel tight, yet she couldn’t help but marvel at the ARC suit. Every step launched farther and faster. The Swarm started to part before her; and she jumped into a front-summersault and activated her thrusters, letting them push her nearly ten feet to her right. The Swarm faltered momentarily. Their normally smooth motion jumbled. They spread out to avoid her descent, but over compensated. Many of the creatures smashed into their companions. Some even fell.
Angel twisted her body into a dive roll. She hit the ground and bound up, launching herself into a back flip, but using her thrusters to fling her body deep into the Swarm. She heard weapons firing from up the beach. It was Cashman’s team. Their new ammunition sounded oddly like fireworks. Angel landed on her feet, the Swarm once more scrambling into one another to avoid her. She dashed forward, then turned on a dime, cartwheeling sideways. With a boost from her thrusters, she launched herself straight up. Then she flipped into a dive and triggered the thrusters with her facial controls. Her body slid sideways and once more confused the Swarm.
The change in the alien creatures was noticeable instantly. The coordinated movement abruptly shifted to a mass exodus, only the aliens didn’t flee down the beach or back the way they had come. They turned toward the lake. Angel dove toward the cliff as hundreds of automatic weapons opened fire.
“Evasive maneuvers, ARC squad!” Goldman ordered.
He was cursing as Angel reached the cliff. She hit the sheer rock hard enough to bounce off, but the ARC suit absorbed the impact and she managed to take hold for a few seconds. The Swarm was in full retreat, dashing out into the great lake. Holding onto the cliff face was unnecessary and Angel dropped to the ground. The entire attack had lasted less than a minute. She turned and watched the aliens, who dashed into the water, then disappeared.
“What the hell was that?” Hays wondered aloud.
“That was us kicking some ass,” Bolton replied.
“Can they even swim?” Jones asked.
“Doesn’t look like it,” Petty Officer Daniels replied from the top of the ridge. “There’s no sign of them.”
“So maybe we did it?” Cash said, but Angel could hear the note of doubt in his voice.
“You think they panicked and ran into the sea?” Bolton asked. “You think they would drown rather than face our guns?”
“No,” Angel said calmly. “They were just avoiding the fight.”
“But they ain’t swimming, LT,” Hays said. “They gotta breath, right? They can’t do that underwater.”
“I doubt they can do it under ground either,” Angel said, “but they seem to do just fine there. We can’t let our guard down.”
She was walking back along the cliff, staying close even though the gunfire had stopped on the ridge above her.
“Alright team, check your weapons,” Cash ordered. “Let’s clean up and reload. We don’t know when these monsters will turn up again, but I want us ready when they do.”
“Roger that,” the fire team said in unison.
“ARC squad,” Goldman said over the command channel. “Return to the plateau.”
“Affirmative,” Angel said. “We’re on our way.”
They had to jog three kilometers down the beach to find a place where the cliff face angled back into a steep hillside. They used the thrusters on their ARC suits to assist them in the climb, then jogged back to the camp. The ARC suit made running much easier. The reflexive materials on the soles of their feet made each stride more of a long jump, and they covered the distance much faster than even Angel expected.
When they reached the camp, the Air Force officers, with the exception of Captain Nance, were waiting for them. They had removed their helmets and nodded to Angel. She thought she saw a sliver of respect in their eyes.
“Squad, remove your helmets. Staff Sergeant,” Angel said, “introduce your fire team to our new platoon officers.”
“Yes ma’am,” Cash said.
They removed their helmets and stood at attention. Angel heard them each give their rank and name.
“Staff Sergeant Jonathan Cashman.”
“Sergeant Gary Bolton.”
“Corporal Aubry Hays.”
“Corporal Billy Jones.”
“Corporal Victor Vancini.”
Angel knew that if the Air Force officers were smart they would ask their Marine counterparts questions, but she didn’t know if their egos would yield that much. She walked quickly toward the command tent. Petty Officer Daniels was already there, in deep conversation with one of Goldman’s technicians. Nance was there as well. He looked at her and smiled. She couldn’t tell if the look was a sign of respect, or simply relief that she had saved him from humiliating himself in front of the entire Marine battalion.
It was immediately clear that Goldman was furious. His dark features were pinched into a frown as he spoke into a headset. He was gesturing toward the table top monitor as if whoever he was speaking to could see him.
“What do you mean you don’t have coverage of the entire lake? How is that possible?”
Angel waited, happy to not be the center of Goldman’s attention at that moment. Nance was near the front with the other senior officers who waited to confer with the lieutenant colonel about the battle. She understood his frustration. Every commander throughout history longed for decisive battles but rarely got their wish. Goldman flung off the headset and glared at his officers.
“The damn satellites are out of position,” he growled. “Commander Beauregard on the Ramses is mobilizing air reconnaissance but what are the odds they get here in time?”
Angel didn’t say a word. She knew that even if they could watch every centimeter of the coastline, the aliens could still burrow underground from the bottom of the lake. The wily creatures knew how to hide their movements.
“I want numbers. How many dead?” Goldman demanded.
“I’d say a few hundred,” said a Major standing near Nance. “They weren’t in range long once they broke for the water.”
“Is there any report of these creatures moving in water?” Goldman wanted to know.
Angel saw a few officers shake their heads, but no one spoke.
“Okay, so we won the battle, but the cowards ran away before we could really impact their numbers. And I’m assuming the queen survived.”
“Sir, the Swarm broke formation before the order was given to fire,” said a heavy set Marine with gray hair. “Well do a thorough sweep of the bodies, I’ve already sent two platoons to gather the corpses, but there was no visible sign of anything but drones.”
“Your tactics were successful,” said Nance. “Your strategy nearly perfect.”
“But the enemy escaped,” Goldman grumbled. “I know we were short on time, but what could we have done better?”
A Marine captain spoke up, “We could have littered the ground with a tracking agent.”
“Who the hell knew they would break and run so easily?” another officer said.
“It’s only the second time we’ve seen them retreat,” said the grizzled Marine. Angel saw that he was a Major by the double gold bars on the collar of his fatigues.
“And both times there was only one officer present,” Goldman said. “Second Lieutenant Murphy, that was an outstanding job down there.”
“Thank you, Colonel,” Angel said, blushing a little.
“What’s your assessment of the battle?”
“I’m not sure I have more to add sir, although I will say that I’m surprised the Swarm retreated so quickly. I’m not sure it was because of me.”
“Don’t be so modest,” Nance said.
“I’m not saying that I didn’t play a part in what happe
ned,” Angel said. “But the Swarm didn’t break very quickly in the mountains. Today was different.”
“Different how?” Goldman demanded. “The terrain was similar. We had them boxed in a narrow space that we thought would limit their movements.”
“Yes, that’s not what I’m referring to, sir. What I’m trying to say is it felt more like the Swarm recognized our tactics and reacted.”
“You mean they knew we had them in a trap?” Goldman asked.
Every officer turned toward Angel. She felt almost as frightened as she had before the battle.
“I can’t say for certain, sir. Only their response was much faster than I would have expected.”
“Okay, so what were they running from?” Goldman asked.
“Sir, I was with Colonel Hale when the Swarm attacked the FOB at Port Gantry,” said the heavyset major. “They responded to our initial attacks with caution. This was different.”
“So you don’t think it was our numbers that frightened them off?” Goldman wondered.
“No sir, I do not,” the major replied.
“It could have been the placement of our Marines,” said another man. “I’ve been on planet for several encounters. The aliens have an uncanny sense of when our weapons are trained on them from above. They’ll even dodge bombs dropped from high altitude.”
“Yes, that’s true. I’ve read about that in the reports,” Goldman said. “Having our forces shooting down may have somehow tipped them off.”
“And now we know they aren’t afraid of water,” said the major. Angel saw the name Hammonds stenciled onto the left breast of his fatigues.
“We don’t know that they didn’t drown,” Nance argued.
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Goldman said. “We underestimate these creatures at our own peril. I want reports dictated and word on the dead. We may not have stopped them, but we didn’t lose any of our forces. And that’s a victory in and of itself. We’re staying on the plateau for now, but I want those shuttles on standby until further notice. If the eyes in the sky get a bead on those devilish bastards I want as many Marines as we can get in theater ASAP. Any questions?”
There were none, and the meeting broke up. Angel wanted to find Cashman’s squad and relax, but she knew she couldn’t. There was too much work to be done getting Nance’s Alpha Squad ready for combat. If they had to face the Swarm on open ground, one person in an ARC suit working to disrupt the hive mind wouldn’t be enough.
19
Temporary Base Camp,
Sunset Ridge, Excelsior Lake Roebuck District,
Neo Terra, Tau Ceti System
Nance hurried to catch up to Angel and Daniels, who were walking back to join the rest of the platoon. He smiled, his helmet still under one arm, his hair almost laughably perfect despite the battle that had just been fought.
“Well, that worked out,” he said. “I’m not sure that the same results couldn’t be achieved with a few fast attack planes, but whatever.”
“The planes are too predictable,” Angel said.
“How’s that?”
“They’re fast and loaded with weapons, but they can only attack in a straight line,” Angel explained. “The Swarm is big, but they move like a single organism. They can separate to avoid the attacks, and because your aircraft can’t turn very quickly, there’s no way to hit your targets.”
“And you’d be surprised how high they can jump,” Daniels said. “They don’t have any problem sacrificing themselves to take down your planes.”
“Okay, I see the problem,” Nance said. “What was that fellow saying about the Swarm avoiding aerial attacks?”
“They sense incoming bombs,” Angel said. “Or at least it appears that they do. No one knows for sure how they do it. But that’s why the brass approved the development of the ARC suits. The theory is that unpredictable rapid movement will force them to commit so much attention to avoiding us that the Swarm will be susceptible to traditional stationary weapon fire or become hopelessly confused.”
“It’s called disruption, when a system is faced with something new that it can’t adapt to,” Daniels said. “Disruption almost always leads to complete collapse of the system.”
“So if the Swarm is controlled by a hive mind, and we disrupt the mental signals,” Nance said, “it will collapse into chaos.”
“That’s the theory. So far it’s worked,” Angel said. “But the problem is that the Swarm adapts to our tactics. Everything we’ve tried has failed.”
“Until you kicked some ass in the mountains,” Nance said with a dazzling smile.
“We got lucky in the mountains,” Angel said.
“How do you figure that?” Nance said.
“We were a single platoon. We should have been overrun. They had the numbers. We got lucky because they didn’t expect us to be a threat, and we surprised them. They broke when we attacked their queen.”
“You’ve seen the queen?” Nance asked.
“No,” Angel admitted. “When we got close, the young drones formed up around her, using their bodies like a shield.”
“If we’d had the proper support,” Daniels said. “Lieutenant Murphy might have defeated the Swarm for good.”
“Well, you’ve got the support now, don’t you?” Nance said. “Take a break and get a meal, Lieutenant. You’ve earned it.”
Angel whirled around to face Nance. She jabbed him with her finger.
“Are you kidding me? We can’t relax now? You’re squad isn’t ready to go into action, and who knows when the Swarm might pop up again. We’ve got to get each of your suits prepped and take advantage of every minute of training we can get while we’re on the ground. Once they order us back up to the Ramses, we won’t be able to do anything but wait.”
“Oh,” Nance said, his face hovering between embarrassment and anger.
“We’ll need plenty of room,” Daniels said.
“Let’s move the platoon to the edge of camp,” Angel said. “We’ll work until the sun sets.”
“Hang on a second,” Nance said, taking hold of Angel’s arm and turning her to face him. “We need to talk.”
“Lieutenant?” Daniels asked.
“It’s okay,” Angel said. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”
She looked doubtful, but as a petty officer she had no standing to disobey the order. She was a senior NCO; but Nance was a captain and his word in the special platoon was law to Daniels, even if she didn’t like it.
“Look, I don’t mind my subordinates making suggestions, but this is my platoon now,” he said. “You can’t give me orders.”
“I’m not giving you orders, sir. I’m just trying to take advantage of the situation. We have so much to do and so little time.”
“Fine, I get that. I really do, but you need to ask, Angel. Do you get where I’m coming from. I can’t have you undermining my authority.”
Angel felt like a volcano was ready to erupt inside her, but she clamped it down. There would be nothing useful gained from arguing with Nance. He was her captain, whether she liked it or not. Her job was to make it work; and if that meant asking instead of telling him how to do his job, she would do it.
“Captain,” she said softly. “Is now a good time to train? We need to adjust the thrusters on your squads’ ARC suits. And we all need as much time as possible practicing the rapid movement that is needed to disrupt the Swarm.”
“I agree,” Nance said with a smile. “See, that wasn’t so hard. Let’s get the troops ready for action. Shall we?”
Angel slipped her helmet back over her head so he wouldn’t see how angry she was. His pompous attitude got under her skin. He wanted her to pretend that he knew what he was doing, but in reality he was an overgrown child just playing at being in charge. She knew Air Force pilots didn’t have the same leadership responsibilities that a Marine officer had. Yet she expected that he had been chosen for more than his gymnastics background. Apparently, she was wrong.
20
Temporary Base Camp,
Sunset Ridge, Excelsior Lake Roebuck District,
Neo Terra, Tau Ceti System
“No!” Angel shouted. “Stop trying to fly. You’re just wasting the suit’s battery power. The Swarm isn’t in the air. It’s on the ground.”
“She’s really busting their balls,” Hays said.
“I’d say they deserve it,” Vancini said. “They listen about as well as a bunch of third-graders.”
“And you could do better?” BJ asked.
“I’m not saying I can do what the LT does,” Vancini said. “But I understand the tactics.”
“That’s because you’re a grunt,” Bolton said. “These space jockeys are used to flying.”
“Everything takes time,” Cash said. “Van’s right and wrong. They need to respect her. And in time they’ll probably do well enough in the ARC suits, if they survive long enough. We should be training ourselves.”
They were a half mile from the camp in a stretch of desolate-looking space where nothing grew. The ground was hard, with almost no soil, and large boulders littered the area. It was ideal for training with the ARC suits. Angel had outlined a short course and designated specific jumps, cartwheels, dive rolls. It had taken several hours just to get the suits right for each new member of the platoon. The sun was beginning to slide down toward the horizon and everyone was tired, but they understood their need to practice. Only Captain Nance seemed at ease in the ARC suit. He could flip and dive almost as well as Angel. He was well balanced and unfazed by the rapid movement of the suit, but it was obvious that he was trying to do the moves. There was a slight hesitation before each complicated movement.
Cash knew that flipping and diving would never come naturally to him or the members of his fire team. Instead, they ran a different course, bounding from bounder to boulder, jumping over obstacles and coordinating their movements. They were able to practice certain preplanned movements without the ARC suits. Cash had his team prepped for certain formations with easy to follow verbal commands. They could follow him single-file, or spread out in a line to either side of him. They practiced moving fast through the field of boulders, taking cover, even retreating in an organized fashion. With the ARC suits on, everything they did felt spectacular. To Cash, it felt like he was a child all over again, only with super abilities he had never possessed. He had always been active and athletic, but sports wasn’t where he shined. Cash could do some of the flips, dive rolls, and quick direction changes that Angel employed, but had to be careful to avoid doing too much or risk becoming dizzy. The ARC suits gave them astounding abilities, but if they pushed too hard they risked losing the ability to control themselves which left them vulnerable to enemy attacks.
Battle ARC Page 9
