Exodus: Machine War 1 Supernova.

by Doug Dandridge

  “Yes, sir,” said the Colonel, a tone of disappointment in his voice.

  It’s good to be enthusiastic about the mission, thought the Admiral. But don’t get carried away.

  * * *

  “Any luck?” asked Captain Gertrude Hasslehoff, commanding officer of the battle cruiser Challenger.

  “I can tell you where we aren’t,” said Cenk Ungra, the chief engineer. He looked over at the holo that showed the space around them. The background of the space was a deep violet color, and there were dark dots in the distance all around. It reminded the Captain of the dimensions of space she was familiar with, but with many differences other than the color.

  First of all, the pattern of distant objects did not match up completely with any charts they had of normal space, unlike the correspondence of sub or hyperspace. And the quantum resonance of that space was different than anything anyone had ever seen.

  “Not any space that we’re familiar with,” said the Captain, shaking her head. “And no way out.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on our chances,” said Ungra, frowning. “Since we really don’t know how we got here, I really can’t think of how we will get out.”

  At least everything on the ship still works, thought the Captain. Challenger could power itself with its antimatter and backup fusion reactors for many years. The life support systems would recycle food, water and air almost indefinitely. As far as they could tell, all of their physical and biological systems worked in this dimension the same as they did in normal space. If there were tiny differences, so far they had not made themselves felt.

  “What are our chances of whatever it was that sent us here wearing off?”

  “I don’t know if there is anything to wear off,” said the Engineer. “It’s not like we’re generating any kind of field to stay here, like we would in hyperspace. It’s closer to subspace, where we’re here, and we’re going to stay here until we open up the way out.”

  “Well, you know what to do, Commander,” said the Captain, staring at the unknown space, wondering if she and her people were ever going to get out of here. “Keep working on it.”

  * * *

  “This is the commander of the human force in orbit around and on the surface of the planet Klassek,” said the voice over the television, the radio, over every electronic device capable of picking up a signal and conveying it to a watcher or listener. The voice was translated into Honish, but retained the tone and inflections of the human speaker.

  “This message is for the Leader of the nation of Honish, and all of his cabinet members and military leaders. You are charged with violating the laws of the New Terran Empire, and of the Nation of Tsarzor and its allies. These violations include murder by the use of weapons of mass destruction, inciting rioting, property destruction, and assault with the intent to impede humanitarian efforts.”

  “It’s on every broadcast channel we have,” said the Supreme General, on the phone to subordinates who were monitoring the communications. “It’s even over the cable and fiber optic networks.”

  Zzarr really didn’t care that he and his staff were hearing this message. He did care that it was going out where all of his citizens could hear it. “Is there any way you can shut it down?”

  “I don’t see how,” said the General, staring at the Leader. “Even if we shut down our broadcast and cable networks, we can’t turn off all of the receivers in the country.”

  “We are coming to apprehend you, Zzarr. You and your cabinet and staff. We are prepared to use whatever force is necessary to take you into custody. And this message is going out to your citizens, police and military. Stand down. You cannot stand against us. You will just be giving your lives for no purpose. But we will not stand for Zzarr and his henchmen to continue with their campaign of terror against our humanitarian rescue efforts as regards your planet.”

  “Order all our forces to resist by all means at their disposal,” ordered Zzarr to his Supreme General.

  “Are you sure you want to do that, sir?” asked the officer. “They can smash us flat without any effort.”

  “If they come here, they will also be arresting you, General,” said Zzarr in a cold voice. “Now, do you want them to take you into custody, just so they can torture information from you before your execution.”

  The message repeated, verbatim. With an addition to the end. “Again, we caution all military, police and paramilitary forces of Honish to stand down. We will be compelled to use deadly force against anyone who attempts to stop us. You have been warned.”

  “The military is on condition one status,” said the Supreme General. “Invasion Imminent. Our aircraft are scrambling as we speak. Anything that penetrates our airspace will be engaged.”

  “Order my personal guards here immediately,” the Leader told his Chief of Staff. “I want us prepared to evacuate this building and relocate to our secret command bunker.”

  All of the people in the chamber, a command center well under the palace, looked relieved as they heard that. The command center was fortified, and not a one doubted that the humans could blast their way in without issue. But they would have to find the hidden bunker first, whose location was only known to the personnel manning it, and a select few of the military. And the humans couldn’t penetrate a facility they couldn’t find.

  * * *

  “They’re mobilizing their military forces, sir,” came the call from the Marine officer on the flag bridge who was monitoring the ground forces. “Aircraft are taxiing down the runways as we speak.”

  “You tried,” said Captain Susan Lee, standing beside the Admiral’s chair.

  “Weapons free,” announced the Admiral. “Open fire on any Honish military vehicles and units deploying.

  The Marine Major nodded and turned back to his board to relay the orders, while the Naval air controller started sending the signals from his board. The mistake the Honish Leader had made was to think that the Imperials still had to insert their forces into the territory of his country. When most of those forces were already there.

  * * *

  The Gallagos (meaning a large raptor) fighter was the most advanced military aircraft on Klassek, the pride of the Honish aeronautic industry. The first pair of the craft reached the end of the runway and pirouetted into a ninety degree turn, braking, then pushing their throttles up to full, their pilots waiting for the clearance to launch.

  “Warning,” called a voice over the com. “Any attempt to lift your aircraft will be met with deadly force.”

  Both pilots stared at their instruments, wondering where in the hell cast was coming from.

  “Alpha one two and one three,” called out the voice they recognized. “You are cleared for takeoff.”

  “Any sign of nearby enemy?” asked the flight leader, looking at his own scope.

  “Negative. Airspace is clear.”

  First the flight leader released his brakes, a moment later his wingman, and both started rolling down the runway, building up speed every second as the G forces pushed them back into their seats.

  The air shimmered at the end of the runway for the merest of moments, and suddenly one of the human sting ships was there. The flight leader sucked in a breath as his hearts jumped to a faster beat. The officer knew that invisibility was possible, in fact, his own military was working on it. But nothing as effective as what the Imperial craft had just demonstrated.

  The flight leader flipped the switch cover off his joystick and reached for the trigger, hoping he could get off enough cannon fire to blast it out of the way before his aircraft ran into it or its debris before leaving the runway. That option was taken away as the angry red of a particle beam linked sting ship and fighter. The fast moving protons blasted through the fuselage, transferring tens of thousands of degrees of heat into the craft around its path. The fighter went up in a ball of fire that scattered pieces of it all over the runway. The beam struck out again, and the second fighter was destroyed, then two more times to blast the next fl
ight that was still taxiing into position.

  “Any aircraft that attempts to leave this field will be destroyed,” came the voice over every receiver on the base. “Continued efforts to launch aircraft will result in the complete destruction of this base by kinetic strikes.”

  The sting ship faded away, moving to another location, still putting out some heat, but no other radiation that could be detected. The invisible decoys deployed to both sides covered that, putting out more heat than the craft they guarded, ready to spoof any infrared seeker that might come their way.

  * * *

  The First Armored Fist of Hrrottha division rolled out of its base, moving toward the capital at thirty kilometers per hour, all other traffic cleared from the roads ahead. Four hundred tanks, a hundred mobile guns, and six hundred other armored vehicles road marched toward their defensive positions. The soldiers were confident that they would give a good account of themselves, and that the aliens would regret trying to invade their country.

  Three sting ships flew down the road, coming out of stealth just before they fired, conserving their energy for other functions. Particle beams thrust though heavy armored vehicles like they were balloons, and vehicle after vehicle exploded as their hydrogen turbine engines and gas storage cells were ruptured. As the sting ships passed, they dropped a couple of sticks of small weapons that homed in on any armored vehicle that was still intact. Moments after contact those vehicles were no longer intact, and the small flight of Imperial ground support craft flew on, going back into stealth and leaving almost a thousand armored vehicles, and hundreds more soft skinned ones, burning on the road.

  Some antiaircraft missiles shot up after the sting ships, tracking in on their heat. The ships countered with the beams from their laser rings and micro-counter missiles, blowing all of the planned revenge fire from the sky. Soon the sting ships were out of range, turning through the air to seek out their next targets.

  The Third Hrrottha’s Wrath division was on its way into the city from another direction. The low crumps of explosions sounded in the distance to the south, and rising clouds of smoke and dust became visible. They were not sure what was happening, but hopes were high that one of their sister units had hit the aliens hard.

  Third Division did not even see what killed it. In orbit, the light cruiser Chan Chun released a pair of canisters that shot downward under their grabbers, entering the atmosphere at forty times the speed of sound, sending out a boom that was heard across the continent. Forty kilometers above the ground the canisters exploded, sending out hundreds of small but dense objects that spread in a fast falling cloud. Each object scanned the area below in an instant, oriented onto a target, and boosted. A fraction of a second later the division was gone, every vehicle, every soldier, destroyed.

  * * *

  The pair of assault shuttles came down over the city at what could only be called a meandering speed. At two hundred kilometers an hour they made barely a sound other than the slight rustling of the wind of passage. Fully stealthed, they didn’t appear on radar, or any other sensor system, and even their infrared signature was tiny, since they hadn’t just dropped from orbit, but had flown at low altitude from the lake they had been sitting in prior to the assault.

  Four more shuttles were behind them, the follow up platoons that would secure the perimeter while the apprehension platoon went into the building. Higher up were a quartet of sting ships, ready to provide ground support.

  The two shuttles slowed to a hover over the capital building, the last known location of the Leader of Honish and his staff. As soon as they were in place the side panels of the shuttles opened, and twenty-two medium suited figures fell from each craft, their grabbers slowing them to a soft touchdown on the roof of the large building.

  The other four shuttles did the same with their cargo, one half platoon on each side of the building. The Marines fell down the side of the building, half of them reaching the ground, the other half remaining in the air on overwatch.

  Captain Stacy Jangerson, the overall commander of the raid, followed her first platoon leader and approached the door that led to the stairs downward. The door was constructed of heavy armored alloy, most probably capable of withstanding a hit by a locally produced antitank rocket. Jangerson nodded to the Sergeant standing in front of the door, and that Marine slapped a breaching charge on the barrier. All backed away, just as the sound of shots from local weapons sounded from street level.

  “What’s happening, Yoshi?” asked the Captain of her XO, who was in charge of the street level force.

  “Just some local soldiers poking their noses in where they’re not welcome,” said the Marine Lt. in his softly accented Terranglo. “So far, no problem. And Sashra’s platoon is ready to breach the doors at your command.”

  The breaching charge on the door blew, the almost microscopic antimatter shape charge blasting a hole through the metal, the heat melting the armor outward until a large gaping opening occupied the door, including the part that had held the locking mechanism. Two Marines in heavy suits ran up to the door and tossed stun grenades through the hole, then, using the strength of their robotic muscles, pulled the ruin away from the opening.

  Jangerson watched the men of the first squad file through the door, tossing some of the new incapacitation grenades down the steps. After some moments they signaled all clear, and the second squad went through the door.

  The Captain stood on the roof for a moment, tracking her company on her HUD. One squad of first platoon was fitted out in heavy suits, the rest in mediums. It had been thought that the smaller suits would be better for a building assault, where, just like on a ship, things could get very tight. But the squad with the heavy suits, and their greater strength and protection, were along to handle situations where firepower and their virtual invulnerability could tip the balance.

  First squad flowed down the stairs, while second blew the doors to the elevators and dropped down the shafts. The Captain and her two security people came after, with the third squad trailing.

  “Take the doors,” he commanded Yoshi Taragowa, starting three more squads in motion into the building.

  “The reaction force is, well, reacting,” said the Exec, over the muted sounds of explosives and the angry buzzing of particle beams.

  “Any trouble?” asked Jangerson, as the sounds of fighting erupted from a couple of floors down.

  “We’re handling it. I think we had best leave the sting ships in reserve for now. And the assault squads have already encountered resistance.”

  It would be better if they just gave up, thought the company commander, watching as the icons of her unit moved across her HUD. They were equipped with the new knockout gas that medical had come up with. It was effective either through the lungs or the skin, though some of the environmental suits of the natives might be able to resist it. For a short time, before the nanites built into the gas ate their way through any protective barrier not attached to an Imperial battle armored suit.

  She didn’t think the guards in this building, who had probably been selected for their loyalty or fanaticism, would give up without giving their lives to resist this intrusion. Making her way down the building, floor after floor, passing the unconscious bodies of Klassekians, many in full environmental suits that had not protected them, she was happy she could take them out without killing them.

  The sounds of fighting intensified over the com from the units outside. Fanatical soldiers of the Honish poured into the attack, hundreds of them, charging into the teeth of particle beams and explosives as if they didn’t have a care for their own lives. Gas was taking some of them down, lethal force many others, and the Marines still in the air fired down on them like miniature aircraft.

  “Committing the sting ships, now,” called out Taragowa, and the icons of the three support aircraft blinked onto the HUD. “We…”

  The com link to the XO died, at the same time as his icon blinked red twice on the HUD and fell off the display.

/>   “Yoshi,” yelled Jangerson, afraid that she had lost her Exec.

  “He’s dead, ma’am,” said Lt. Ferguson, the third platoon leader, and the next ranking officer. “One of their tanks put an armor piercing shell through his suit. A couple of other men got taken out the same way, before the sting ships took out the tanks.”

  And that’s why I should have insisted that we all wear heavy suits, thought the Captain, looking back at one of the Marines in a heavy suit go crashing through the corridor. I thought we had taken out all of their nearby armor.

  She lost three Marines pushing down the building and into the basement, reaching the entrance that led to the subbasement. The suits, even the medium version, made them invulnerable to the small arms of the Klassekians. Even antipersonnel grenades and heavy projectile weapons bounced off the armor. But some of the soldiers had shoulder fired antitank rockets and some older recoilless cannon. Those could penetrate the armor of medium suits, and possibly even the heavier version.

  Fighting their way down the elevator shaft to the command bunker cost two more Marines, and the resistance down at the lowest level became truly fanatical, males actually blowing themselves up, suiciding to try and take out the invaders. In all instances that was futile. Explosives in and of themselves couldn’t penetrate the armor in the quantities a male could carry. Only purpose built armor piercing weapons could do that, unless the explosives were employed in a shaped charge, which the defenders didn’t have time to produce.

  It took massed particle beam fire to take down the final door to the command bunker, a portal thick enough to withstand a moderate nuclear blast directly on the building above. And when they entered the room.

  “Get me the Admiral,” said Captain Jangerson over the com as she looked on the empty room that had been the command center of the nation of Honish. “Sir. They fled. There’s no one here.”