by Tom Germann
The voice prompted him. “Come on, Four. So why do you have reservations?”
Four was frowning and then spoke quietly. “This is one of the toughest sim missions that we have. It is a guaranteed suicide mission. He didn’t know that, and while I did make parts of it easier on him, he made it to the coolant plant on his own. He killed over a hundred thousand men, women, and children without a thought, even if they were aliens. If this was a real mission. . . .” Four took a deep breath. “We don’t commit genocide. It’s the fastest way to get every alien species out here banding together to send very large kinetic weapons against Earth as a lesson. He did well, but I think he did too well. He never even thought of the consequences.” Four stopped talking and sat back, looking into the distance and waiting for the voice in his head to respond.
The answer came back fast. “I agree with you. But the scenario you laid out is almost impossible. He won. Mission parameters did say steal or destroy. He destroyed. No witnesses, so it becomes more likely that the op is simply completed. Not the best answer, but it works. My gut says that if Eight is given guidance, he’ll be an asset to the team.”
Four shrugged and leaned forward over his workbench as the comm line clicked off. He hadn’t mentioned it, but he was pretty sure that the boss had checked the evaluation. Eight had one of the highest scores ever from that sim.
Even better than the boss.
Four started pulling apart a laser pistol that was out of alignment. The last thought that he had regarding Eight was that he would be okay with the newbie on mission—as long as it wasn’t a suicide mission.
On the rest of the ship, the day cycle ended and shipboard “night” began.
Only a few hours later, the alarms went off. The section was deploying on a raid.
The Assault
The timer is ticking down. I can feel it. I can also see it on the heads-up display in my helmet. I hit the ground, moving fast, along with the rest of the section. We swept in fast. Being stuck here now is bad.
Then everything goes wrong. I’m on my own behind this slag heap and I am pinned down from the other side by at least two and possibly more hostiles. I can’t even get my head up as they put some extra rounds into the edges. Our fire support is supposed to be covering us from a strong overwatch position picked out on the drop-in but I don’t know what they’re doing.
We have jamming, so our sensors are not doing well at all. Given the accuracy of the fire coming in, they must have hardwired sensors around the perimeter.
There is only one thing to do. We don’t sit on the defensive. We assault and destroy.
I breathe deeply and get ready to boost my system.
The calming mantra runs through my mind and I fade away and am gone.
We came into the system quietly with all systems locked down and coasted in from far outside the system limits. Our mission was to land and carry out an aggressive smash-and-grab off of a technical research station that has some data that’s important.
The info we had on the location was good. The station was lit up nice and bright on this little airless moonlet. There appeared to be more active electronic signatures than we anticipated, and as we had gotten closer, more communications chatter was picked up. There were a lot more personnel on-site than we were told about.
We had several days to evaluate the data coming in. We were moving fast, but the distances were so enormous that it would still take us a long time to get there. We could keep preparing until we were just a short distance out.
Normally we could swing around and take another run at it or just depart, but we couldn’t this time. The information was necessary for the Glentol Corporation, so we were going in. We were on a real timer, though, as the other side realized that the breakthrough was large and different. There was a starship coming out to pick this information up and it was going to be packed with troops. A fast operation to go in, grab the information including the computer system, and then level the whole place with demolition charges, blowing the reactor and making sure that none of the information could be salvaged.
We picked up enough comms chatter to indicate at least fifty troops on the ground. The background emissions were much higher than what our intelligence indicated we should be seeing. Someone on their end must have realized that an actual breakthrough was going to be happening out here.
Two, our section commander, or what would have been ranked a sergeant by a military organization, simply changed the operational plan.
We would not be in striking distance of the planet by assault lander for two days. The new orders came out and the formation would be something different than what we usually used.
There would be two close assault teams with explosives. That would be Two and myself as the newbie, as well as Seven and Nine. Patrolling the outer perimeter ready for surprises would be Three and Four. Our direct and indirect fire support and overwatch would be One, Five, Six, and Ten, armed with two missile launchers, a tri-barrelled projectile weapon, and a heavy laser rifle for potential sniping or focussed destruction.
As the assault lander came in, it slowed down and would drop Seven and Nine on the far side of the base. It was more like they would be ejected out the side, which is a nasty experience.
The assault lander would land and we would move out.
The saying “No plan survives contact with the enemy” is too true here.
Most of the plan seemed to be blown as soon as we were in the orbital insertion path and saw what we would be facing.
On passive sensors we picked up over a hundred enemy soldiers or security, which meant that there would actually be more enemy troops that we weren’t picking up. Numerous sentry guns and unknown heavy weapons would be armed within the base.
The positions all remained the same, but we weren’t going to eject two teammates as we passed the base. They wouldn’t even hit the ground before they were dead.
Instead, they would have to move around the base, but if it became necessary they could become a second fire point in the slag heaps that have built up around the base from the mining and other work that happens here.
The enemy’s sensors finally detected us in the last few seconds before we went live and the defence guns started coming fully online. The lander’s thrusters kicked in, smashing us around and getting us down with a bone-jarring impact. We hit the ground with a nasty thud that I swore later echoed through the lander, and then the umbilicals disconnected and the side hatches dropped open.
The assault teams blew right out the door. I was with Two and we were moving fast, parallel to the defence line we had identified. The other team was heading in the exact opposite direction with the idea being that if we could get far enough away, we could split their fire.
The support group would set up the smart missile launchers behind the slag heap we had come down over and provide their own cover. They also had the tri-barrel with the quick mount to set up to cover the open side. A computer program would run that and track/fire on targets immediately. The heavy laser was manned in the event a target of opportunity came up.
I was running with Two in the lead. She was faster and able to use her suit better than I could for now.
It came as a shock when she blew sideways in almost two pieces. I ran right through the blood spray that had already frozen and dived toward the slag heap ahead of me. I smashed into the ground and slid to a halt. Two had been hit by two different weapon systems from slightly different angles.
That wasn’t possible. At least, no one could plan that and make it work. Murphy was at war with us.
I was down a gun and now pinned down by a sentry gun that must have been fully up and running when we hit the ground. I could fully check my sensors now and saw that there were two enemy combatants by what I thought was a light sentry gun. One must have fired a light missile while the gun was tracking. Their signature was not that s
trong, so they must have been a tech crew running maintenance on the systems.
I had another two combatants coming my way from the side and they were giving off a bigger signature which meant they were fully armoured up.
So Murphy had interfered again. Go time or I was dead.
I brought my rifle to my shoulder and started to lunge to my feet. I would have just enough clearance to shoot over the top of the slag heap.
I stopped myself when the top of the heap started disintegrating under the fire from the sentry gun.
The defensive responses here were faster than expected. The fire wasn’t tearing right through my cover, so it was clearly only a light projectile weapon.
I clicked my comms on with a thought. “One, this is Eight, requesting fire support to take out sentry gun.” I highlighted the red icon that was the sentry gun with a target icon and wherever they were, the support team could see the target. As soon as the support was incoming, I would be moving.
There is a click and I hear One. “No heavy support available.”
Then I hear another click and I think it’s Ten’s voice saying, “Canister inbound, three seconds.”
If one of Wellington or Napoleon’s gunners were here, they would recognize the weapon being used even if they couldn’t understand the delivery or tracking system. A canister is a metal can filled with metal balls. There is a small computer that detonates a charge, blowing the canister apart so that the metal balls continue on like a shotgun shell. The difference is that every ball is actually a small explosive that detonates on contact.
It was very effective back in the day of muzzle-loading cannons. And it’s even more effective in space, where a hole or tear in your suit can kill you fast.
I wait for the round to hit and am psyching myself up. I’m hitting the combat buzz and everything seems to slow down.
I can see the canister round coming in from above and I take cover. My sensors show the missile coming down just over the sentry gun. The weakness of a temporary sentry gun, set up specifically for a battle, is that it covers set arcs for safety, but that’s it. Until it is fully set up, the restrictions tend to be extreme for defensive sites. A sentry gun that could rotate all the way around could take out other weapon systems, troops, or even its own facilities.
So the sentry gun with its machine-fast reflexes is unable to rotate up and take out the canister before it detonates.
A properly hardened facility would have several systems set up with overlapping coverage and fortifications to easily defeat this attack.
But this sentry gun doesn’t have any of that.
The icon of the canister round seems to hesitate just over the enemy icons around the sentry gun, and then it detonates. With all the slag deposits around the site, the sensor read is not that good. All I see is a mass of electronic noise, and I can feel the micro-blasts through the ground.
I move around the far side of the slag heap at a run with my weapon up and tracking from left to right.
I see two shredded bodies lying on the ground and the wreckage of the sentry gun. Whatever ammo was with it went up in a sympathetic detonation. Or at least that’s what it looks like.
I keep panning my rifle and I already have eyes on the two armoured enemy forms. They are a bit farther away and they weren’t expecting to see me. They must have a sensor net up in the area, and a second ago they saw me pinned down on my own.
The blast and the sight of the shredded sentry gun and crew would make most people pause at the shock of the violence. Not me.
I don’t even have my rifle online with them as I’m pivoting. They are already slowing down from the run and bringing their weapons up. They’re splitting away from each other, with both moving to different points for cover.
I almost have my weapon lined up on the first and I really take note of his armour. Medium personal body armour. Much more than a ship suit, which was what the two crewmen had been wearing. That armour would maybe survive the small explosive charges in the canister round.
Their type of armour has a power pack on the back for extended operations under what looks like an armoured hump. All weapon systems are portable and can be detached from the armour, but laser weapons can be hooked up to the power cell for a bigger and longer-lasting kick.
These suits of armour are custom modified with what look like necklaces or maybe amulets hanging off of them. They have been painted a darker color and blend in with their surroundings, so I can’t make out any specific details. Both have laser rifles and ballistic rifles.
They are carrying too much gear. They are too slow, even though their reactions are fast.
My rifle tracks onto the target and I send two rounds downrange. I keep tracking and moving fast, and I fire another two rounds at the second enemy. I hadn’t seen the actual rounds hit the first. I am focussed on my current target.
I’m aware that the first enemy was blown backward by the rounds, and a haze appears around the body. The suit atmosphere must have vented all at once.
I’m nowhere near as lucky with the second target. I know as soon as I pull the trigger that the rounds aren’t good hits.
I can see the impact of the first round; it just caught the edge of the armour, spinning the enemy around. The second round comes right in on the second and hit the laser rifle, smashing it to junk. It had been a shot at mid-range. I should have been able to put two rounds within an inch of each other on the target’s faceplate.
I am in control of my breathing and my body, but something isn’t right. This is bad.
I judge and fire two more rounds. Both are on target and the armour buckles and then crumples into the chest of the alien. The body is thrown backwards into the slag heap behind it and rolls down to the ground.
My sector is clear for a second and I am suddenly back in the real, slower, world. The rest of the section is pinned down and tying up what the sensors are tracking as a huge mass of troops.
There is so much background noise and radiation that it is hard to get an accurate read, but the sensors have been able to refine some data. The base is in the centre and smaller than anticipated. It is surrounded by a large circle of sentry weapons and it looks like there is a partial inner circle that is glaringly incomplete on the screen.
It looks like the enemy knows that they are onto something big and had started beefing up the defences just in case. But we got here before they were finished.
That would explain why the sentry guns are coming online so fast, I realize.
The section is pinned down and tying up most of the troops from the base. I am a bit to the side and can’t see anyone in front of me, and the local defensive weapons have been destroyed. There are also several sensor ghosts moving toward the section from the back. It could be troops from outside the ring defences. The section could be cut off and encircled in minutes.
There are no troops between me and the base. I start moving forward, using the slag heaps as cover.
Even on a moon with no atmosphere I can feel the explosions going off behind me. The section is unloading the heavy weapons on the enemy as fast as they can load and acquire targets. Icons are flickering, which could mean casualties on either side. I don’t know; I have to move fast.
There are two more sentry guns up ahead and I don’t have any more enemy icons between me and the base. I come into the open and the two weapon systems start tracking me. The computer identifies them as a light missile launcher and a projectile weapon.
I keep getting surprised.
I whip my body around and run so that I put another slag heap between me and the projectile weapon. At the same time, I fire at the missile launcher. The single round hits and the system falls over, smashed. I keep running past the slag heap and have to contort myself to get my weapon onto the other sentry gun. It opens fire before I do, which is a problem.
Rounds start zipping
by me as soon as I pass the slag heap. For some reason it doesn’t seem able to target me effectively, but it has a large-capacity magazine.
The hammering blow to my leg is a surprise, but my suit holds.
My sight snaps across the sentry gun and I open fire. It explodes and collapses, and at the same time, I feel the impact against my chest.
Automated sentry guns are programmed and set up. Usually they are run by simple computer programs. I’ve gone up against every type of sentry gun in sim before. These are not being run under local control. The enemy has to have at least one spare AI that is able to take control and directly intervene.
I slide behind another slag heap and let my computer run a diagnostic on the suit while I check out the area and try to figure out what has happened in the last few seconds.
The rest of the battlefield looks static. The enemy can’t dig out the section without carrying out a frontal assault, so they are attempting to flank with other forces.
The radiation and jamming is so bad that I still can’t make out any details or specifics. The section could be down to a single survivor, or everyone could be sitting there holding the enemy off. Same with the other side—every icon could be a section, or a single troop in a position.
The only comms that I can hear is the section redistributing ammo and changing arcs. It sounds like they are going to break forward, but there is so much interference I can only make out a few words and I can’t sort out how many there actually are. For all I know, it’s just a computer running a program to confuse the enemy with multiple radio signals. A frontal assault would be insane. But we have to complete this mission, so maybe they’ll empty their heavy weapons forward and assault. I don’t know.
