Colonel (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 7)

by Jonathan P. Brazee

  Ryck wanted to leave right then, to get back to his brigade. He wasn’t sure why this meeting had to be in person, or what the task force CG had to say that hadn’t been said already. The holo cams in the back of the room manned by more civilians might be the answer, Ryck realized, to his disgust. When politics interfered with military necessity, the Marines on the ground usually suffered.

  Aware, though, that the cams could be looking at him due to his status as a Nova holder, he tried to look interested as the CG attempted to speed through an atta-boy, we-are-all-in-this-together, ooh-rah speech. Finally, they were dismissed, and Ryck and Hecs rushed out to their waiting lift to fly back to Camp Kyser.

  “This is it, Hecs,” Ryck said as they strapped in. “Let’s get it done!”

  Roggeri’s World

  Chapter 27

  “Get the reserve up now!” Ryck shouted into his throat mic to Lieutenant Colonel Lu Wan.

  A reserve was supposed to exploit success, usually with the counterattack, not get thrown into failure, but Ryck was out of options. 2/3 and 3/14 were firmly engaged and could not withdraw, and Major General Sergovich had ordered Ryck to put pressure on the Klethos attacking the Third Brigade.

  Sergovich was screaming down Ryck’s ass, and Ryck was on Lu Wan’s. In his heart, Ryck didn’t think that 3/5 would be able to do much to stem the tide, but orders were orders, and even if strategically unsound, Ryck couldn’t bear to see Marines die in droves.

  So far, Operation Quail Hunt was an unmitigated disaster. The Roggeri’s World militia and most of the Confederation Division had been wiped out almost before the Joint Ground Task Force had landed. The ferocity of the Klethos attack was nothing like what Ryck had seen on either that first capy world or on Tri-30.

  Initially, the Klethos tactics seemed much the same. They appeared on the planet without spacecraft, at least those that the Confed systems had picked up. Once on the ground, they started with the same deliberate movement to contact, ignoring buildings and even the scattered civilians who fled before them. A militia regiment had hastily formed up a defensive line between the Klethos and Sundale, a city of 600,000 people on the confluence of two rivers. Ryck had watched the overhead surveillance recording of that meeting. As before on Tri-30, the Klethos line had stopped a klick or so beyond the front lines of the defense. One Klethos started forward, only to be immediately incinerated by a huge defensive plasma gun. The power of the gun had to have been immense as it smashed through the Klethos’ shielding and left only a few vapors of the creature’s component atoms to wisp away in the wind.

  Immediately, all hell broke loose. The Klethos line broke into a charge as the big militia gun simply exploded, taking out a full city block. Weapons of an unknown nature swept the militia lines, and militiamen either fell still, or more horribly, seemed to come apart, leaving red, messy, piles of organic material on the ground. Replays showed that the militia lasted no more than fifteen seconds.

  Fifteen seconds! For more than 1,800 men and women to simply cease to exist!

  Humans had weapons that could kill in the multitudes in an instant. A planet buster could do that, for example. But whatever the Klethos deployed swept through the militia like the grim reaper’s scythe. The 200 or so Klethos swept through what had been the city’s defenses, and this time, instead of ignoring the civilians, they started in on a slaughter, killing everyone that moved.

  A Confederation frigate moved in to provide fire support, but it hadn’t even gotten off one shot before it was a lifeless hulk, spinning out of control. An unmanned monitor was sent in, and it, too, was knocked out.

  The Klethos were on a rampage, and the slaughter was mindboggling. Energy readings were making surveillance monitors light up, but the data made no sense to the human observers. The Klethos were using weapons other than their swords and personal sidearms, but just what they were, no one knew yet.

  Ryck watched all of this on his display as the shuttle took him down to the planet’s surface. By the time he’d landed and married up with the rest of his staff, the battle for Sundale was essentially over. Somehow, 200 Klethos had killed over 600,000 humans. It simply did not seem physically possible, but the feeds were pretty clear.

  Six-hundred-thousand people should have been able to bum rush 200 Klethos, no matter how strong the creatures were, and simply smothered them by the weight of their bodies. Instead, the people panicked and ran—and died as the Klethos slaughtered them.

  With the city lost, possibly 95% of the population killed, and the local government under pressure from the Confederation and the Combined Task Force, the Roggeri’s World government pulled the Zero Sum Option. A thermonuclear device that had been staged at the local library was triggered. Sundale disappeared in a fireball, taking with it almost the entire Klethos force.

  Ryck wasn’t sure what horrified him most: the fact that the government had just killed several thousand men, women, and children, or that it had staged the device in the city in the first place. Using it looked to have wiped out almost all of the attacking force, but at a tremendous cost, and Ryck didn’t envy the men or women who had made that decision and then pushed the button.

  All around the planet, the Confeds threw everything they had at the Klethos groups in a furious assault. They had some success with large numbers of Klethos fighters being killed. But the weapons used against the Klethos were quickly eliminated, and thee Klethos who had survived the initial Confederation fury went into rampage mode. Score after score of Confed soldiers were wiped out, and civilians, who tried to flee before the onslaught in panic-mode met the same fate.

  Several more cities were nuked, sacrificed to kill Klethos, but still, the creatures pushed forward from expanding circles of control. And by the time the first wave of the Joint Ground Task Force had landed and been deployed, what was left of the planet’s defenses was in full retreat.

  Only half of the task force had landed, however. The rest, with the Brotherhood host being the largest unit, was still in transit. The half on the planet had already been in Confederation space, and so had been able to transit and land quickly—but not quickly enough to save the lost cities.

  Facing an unknown number of Klethos were close to 35,000 Marines, soldiers, and sailors. The Federation Marines component of the task force, FMF-Alpha, some 10,000 strong, moved into position in a broad valley, the main avenue of land approach to the capital. With the city to their rear and an ocean behind that, the Marines had to hold. There was no room for retreat.

  First Brigade held the right flank of the defense. The hills to the north were not very steep, and the Klethos should be able to navigate them. That concerned Ryck, but the Klethos had so far shown no sign of maneuver other than frontal assaults. Still, Ryck sent his attached recon teams and a platoon of Marine up the slopes as OPs, to warn him if the Klethos departed from their usual modus operandi.

  The xenobiologists had many different theories as to the purpose of the Klethos’ ritualistic-seeming dance before closing into battle, but when the Roggeri’s World militia had interrupted that dance, all hell had broken loose. General Bolivar ordered all units of the task force not to engage until the Klethos did first, something with which Ryck heartedly agreed. The Klethos seemed to have some sort of alien chivalry thing going on, and it seemed to revolve around that dance. Ryck didn’t want to see the berserker Klethos in battle with whatever weapons that entailed being brought to bear.

  The Marines had almost a completely new arsenal with which to fight the Klethos, and those weapons were based on the fight on Tri-30. With tanks and air evidently on some sort of verboten list, the Marines had reverted to older-style weaponry. While the M77 flechette rifles were still part of Weapons Pack 1 and the HGL 20 mm grenade launchers part of Weapons Pack 2, neither weapon was a Marine’s primary weapon. That was the new rocket pistol, in which the 7.5 mm rocket pack on the PICS’ shoulder had been exchanged for a single shot pistol that fired a modified version of the rocket.

  The pike that
Ryck had been introduced had been improved and widely issued. It wasn’t intended to be a kill weapon, but more of something with which to immobilize a Klethos.

  With a nod to Ryck’s use of a grappling hook against the capys, a much sleeker—and meaner—version had been developed with an intent to not only hurt a Klethos, but to lasso it in place so it could be dispatched.

  Their most powerful weapon was the new remotely-controlled snap gun. The Klethos had been vulnerable to high-powered energy weapons, so these squat guns were all power and a sighting system. The sights were close cousins to those on the Davis tanks, so it made sense that tankers be used to control them, much to the general disgust of most tankers. It was hoped that the snapguns would be able to inflict some significant casualties among the Klethos before their ultimate destruction, but as remote-controlled weapons, that destruction would not cost Marine lives.

  Not all changes were in offensive weaponry, though. There were several R & D types with the command. Thiago Florence was a stereotypical nerd with a ferret-shaped head on an impossible skinny neck and equally skinny body, but one in whom Hannah had great confidence. She had stuck up for the man when Ryck had indicated his lack of enthusiasm for having to babysit a non-Marine in a combat situation. With Hannah’s endorsement, though, Ryck had called the young man in to discuss what he could contribute to the cause. And Ryck had to admit that the Thiago had a very bright and inquisitive mind. Together, they had come up with a number of possible improvements to a defense.

  Part of a defense is called “shaping” the battlefield. That meant using any means to fool or change the enemy’s use of it. The Klethos didn’t seem to be too vulnerable to classical subterfuge, but Thiago had gone way back in history for a suggestion. Borrowing from the Romans, he suggested caltrops, those multi-pointed spiked devices originally designed to stop cavalry advances. Thaigo had a blueprint for some light-weight and easily deployable caltrops that would not hinder a PICS Marine but which should at least bother the bare-footed Klethos. He even had a mechanical deployment device planned that used a stored energy spring to fling the caltrops forward in a desired pattern.

  Depending on the patterns, these caltrops could either hinder the Klethos or at least canalize them to where Ryck wanted them. He gave the go-ahead to Thaigo, using his discretionary funds to get them made. After the initial testing, Hasting Johns had gotten onboard, getting some made for Second Brigade. Kjartan Snæbjörnsson, though, had not seen their potential and refused to use his funds to get any made for Third Brigade.

  With the snapgun, the caltrops, and by mining the AO, Ryck hoped to get an advantage that his Marines could exploit.

  When the Klethos arrived, they sent out one in front of Third Brigade to do the dance. The dancer was too far away from first brigade’s position to see, but Ryck watched it on his display where it was being broadcast. Within moments of the dance’s conclusion, the Klethos was advancing into the attack. The initial wave hit Third and hit it hard, but it wasn’t long before the flanks advanced on First Brigade.

  The snapguns never got off a shot. They simply melted in their dug-in fighting holes. Only one of the mines went off, taking the legs off of a Klethos fighter. But the rest were somehow neutralized. The caltrops proved to be very effective, though. The first Klethos to reach them actually hopped up and down, backing and then stopping in its place. The Klethos seemed to notice the dull metal spikes for the first time, and when they recommenced their advance, they moved much more cautiously, even submitting to being canalized. This made a big difference when the two forces clashed. The Marines, pikes, pistols, and tridents at the ready, met them with ten or more Marines to each single Klethos.

  The tridents did nothing, but the well-trained pikemen were able to isolate and hold the Klethos while the pistoleers finished them off.

  Marines were dying in greater numbers than the Klethos, but there were far, far more Marines on the battlefield, and they were fearless in their attacks.

  Ryck was more than pleased with First Brigade’s initial performance. Second was holding well, if not as well as First, but Third was getting devastated. They had borne the brunt of the assault, and with only trenches dug and mines laid in front of their positions, the Klethos advanced where they would, and the Third Brigade Marines were not able to mass as many Marines to face each of the enemy. The Klethos cut right through them, and when the command icon switched to Major General Sergovich, Ryck knew General Bolivar was dead as well and the Force command overrun.

  Sergovich quickly stepped in, and his first order was to Ryck to get Marines over to support Third Brigade. Lieutenant Colonel Lu Wan was a little slow in reacting, and Sergovich was hot on Ryck’s ass.

  “Jorge, take charge of the reaction force,” Ryck ordered his deputy on the P2P, careful to use the phrase “reaction force” instead of “3/5.”

  If he’d used the battalion’s designation, that would essentially mean he was relieving Lu Wan, something he was not willing to do in the midst of battle. Lu Wan was a capable commander, even if he was not moving fast enough.

  Ryck’s plan was for 3/14 and 2/3 to stop the Klethos advance with firepower and lances, with 3/14 pushing the Klethos to the side and forming a gap in the enemy’s advance. Lieutenant Colonel Lu Wan had been ready to fall into place inside that gap and then orient 3/5 to join with 3/14 and roll up the line, bringing an overwhelming concentration of force on small groups of Klethos at a time. This had been rehearsed over and over back on Tarawa and Greater Piedmont, and Ryck had been moderately optimistic that this technique could work.

  Now, 3/5 was going to do essentially the same thing, but in support of Third Brigade, which was on the brink of collapse. But the two brigades had never rehearsed this together, and Ryck wasn’t sure they could maximize the potential. They had to try, however.

  “Roger that,” Jorge responded as he issued a series of orders to Lu Wan.

  He’d been ready for the command, Ryck realized, and had formed a plan to implement it. Ryck should have given him the mission five minutes ago, but better late than never.

  Leaving the reaction force to Jorge, Ryck pulled up his display. 2/3 and 3/14 were still online, facing some 150 or so Klethos. Fifty were in 2/3’s AO with the rest in 3/14’s. Marines were falling—too many—but they seemed to be holding well. Between the surprisingly effective caltrops and the pikes, the Klethos were being surrounded by Marines and isolated from each other, easier targets for the pistoleers and tridentmen. Ryck wished he still had 3/5’s Marines, but he was confident now that his plan was workable.

  “Sandy, bring down the OP platoon to reinforce your flank. And I want full caltrop coverage now if you have any more.”

  “Roger, I have six more loads,” Sandy replied.

  “Get them out and surround your targets. Then break off Golf to start sweeping 3/14’s line. Can you handle that?”

  “Roger, we can. Give me a moment,” Sandy replied.

  With 3/5 now committed to Third Brigade, Ryck didn’t have a reserve. It was all well and good to bring in the OP platoon and to get Golf Company to start to run up the Klethos line, but it was standard operating procedure to assign a new reserve when the old one was committed, and Ryck was running out of bodies. But there was one last group, he knew.

  “Hecs, I want the headquarters and the gunners ready to move, to support either battalion as soon as we see which way it goes,” Ryck passed to the sergeant major.

  Ryck’s headquarters was only 24 Marines and a sailor—23 Marines with Jorge leading 3/5 now—and three capys, but with the 25 now out-of-work remote gunners, that was a sizable-enough force that it could turn a localized fight. Ryck was also well aware of what had just happened to General Bolivar and his headquarters, and he was damned if he’d go down without fighting. Given the gap he was creating in the brigade’s lines, it was certainly plausible that some Klethos would exploit that gap and hit them.

  “About friggin time,” Hecs replied as he rushed to ready the men.


  Ryck put his attention back on his two battalions. Casualties were mounting, but it looked like the Marines would outlast the Klethos facing 2/3. The numbers were not so sure for 3/14, even with Golf now joining them. Ryck’s AI kept giving new and sometimes conflicting projections based on the changing data.

  He took a quick look at Jorge and 3/5. Jorge had them moving, and the first of them were pouring over the boundary and into Third Brigade’s AO. The situation gelled in Ryck’s brain, and almost before he knew it, he had a course of action and was on the hook with Hecs.

  “I want our headquarters force to follow in trace of 3/5. When we hit the FEBA, we’ll go right, though, through 3/14’s lines. We’re taking over the counterattack.”

  Hecs immediately passed the message on the command circuit, and almost immediately, loud “ooh-rahs” sounded over 50 external speakers. Ryck had been absorbed with his tasks and fighting the overall battle, but most of the other HQ and gunners had been doing nothing except following the battle, watching as Marines fell. All they wanted was to join in the fight and support their brothers, and now their constraints were being taken off.

  Release the Kraken! Ryck thought to himself.

  Ryck switched his display to focus on the Fuzos for a moment. More Marines had fallen, but the Klethos force was down to an even dozen. Sandy and his men were putting up a good fight, with the tactics and teamwork being the deciding factor. Ryck felt a surge of pride, not only because of their performance, but a little selfishly, because the tactics had been mostly his. They had been shaped with input from many people, but the concept was his.

  “Sir, we need to go,” Çağlar interrupted him.

  Ryck looked around. It had only been a minute or so since he passed to Hecs the order to move out, but already, the small hill where he’d had his command post was emptying. Any longer, and he had Çağlar would be alone.