First Deployment (Corporate Marines Book 3)

by Tom Germann

  My heads-up display shows me a rendering of the suit. My leg and chest are both yellow, which means only minor damage. At least the rest of the suit is still green. Everything else is good, and I still have my demo charges for breaching.

  I have almost nothing in the area to stop me and I’m going to make a run for the base. If I can do some damage, I may be able to get the attention of the rest of the enemy and give the section a chance to assault.

  I’ve only used a few rounds from my first magazine so I’m good for right now. No need to reload. I take off at a run, trying to stay in amongst the slag heaps as much as possible.

  My sensors are scanning constantly. I am looking along my axis of advance and there is nothing. It’s like I don’t exist for the enemy. I can hear a bit more from the section over the comms line; like some freak occurrence, all the interference clears and then it comes back in. Everyone else in the section sounds like they are still alive. Some of the suits seem to have damage, but everyone sounds functional.

  The section is firing slowly and not being aggressive at all. It’s likely they’re aiming to get the enemy to relax before they assault forward.

  I don’t know why they are bothering. The aliens won’t relax. These aren’t third-line conscripts that don’t know what they are doing.

  These troops have custom armour and are likely an elite unit. What else would you send halfway across the galaxy to defend an outpost that holds important information? I don’t know if our plan is still happening or not. The fog of war tends to rule. I hope they make the correct decision.

  Then it doesn’t matter. The section can’t hear me and I lose their communications in static-filled background noise. The enemy is finally jamming us.

  Ahead of me is the base and I can see an access hatch. The base is laid out with central nodes and passages that connect them. They’re all sealed and covered in armour.

  I’m a bit off-target and to the side, but not so far that it will have any real impact on how long it takes me to get there.

  I sense more than see the movement by the airlock. I’ve leapt for cover before I’m even fully aware that I’ve done so. My weapon is up and I empty the magazine in a stream of fire into the shadows next to the airlock.

  I hit the ground as there is a small explosion and I see another enemy in medium armour collapse. Then, secondary explosions light up the area as another sentry gun and its ammunition go off.

  In Cover

  “One to all call signs. Hold ground and maintain suppressing fire.”

  To the side, a two-man enemy fire team is advancing. They are wearing armoured ship suits and carrying projectile weapons. As they pop up to run forward the metre to the next small slag heap, Five snaps her rifle on target and fires off six shots. The two enemy troops are smashed back. By the time they hit the ground, the bodies have flash-frozen.

  Behind them six more enemy troops have advanced, firing slowly at the small circle of human Marines.

  “Ten, we need to smash and assault. Eight’s up there.”

  “One, negative. Hold ground. Pinging.”

  Pinging is a tool used where any external sensor nets that could be accessed by suit armour would scan the local area. If you’re able to get a signal from a ship in orbit or a lander, or even other suits’ sensors, it can be possible to create a full layout of an area quickly, with much more information than one could get from their own sensors or even visual contact.

  It’s a way to eliminate the fog of war from the battle. Unfortunately, to process all that data using a suit’s computer takes time. Every second in battle is crucial. Pinging is not often used, and never in heavy combat.

  “Ten. We need to be assaulting, not sitting here. We don’t do defense!”

  “One. HOLD. There are at least fifty light-armoured troops and what appears to be a full company of Kah-Choo Raiders. That is medium and heavy armour.”

  Around the Marines the lightly armoured Kah-Choo infantry settles into firing regularly. Behind them a large number of heavily armoured troops move forward into different positions, preparing to assault.

  Dome Wall

  I finish reloading. I don’t know why the section isn’t assaulting or passing on new orders. I do know that I am stuck out here on my own and no one is focussing on me now, but I am pretty sure that shortly, the enemy will send someone my way. I’ve taken out some of their defences and troops. They know I’m here and are going to want to stop me.

  I would take the access hatch and blow it, but that’s the easiest way in and the best way to kill me. I tense up and head off at a run for the dome wall a short distance from the hatch.

  The outside wall of a dome is usually lightly armoured to protect against the minor things that can happen to it.

  I slam my body against the wall, slap on a demo charge at hip height, and hit the arming button. I throw myself down before the five-count is finished on the timer.

  The blast isn’t large, but it rips the outer wall right open.

  I get up and check the opening. Easily big enough for me. Two feet inside that is the next dome wall. Also armoured. I pull out two demo charges and press the first arming button three times and then throw it at the inner wall a few feet to the right. Then I do the same with another charge, but this time it goes to the left.

  I duck back around the jagged edge of the hole and stay on my feet this time.

  My suit sensors are giving me sensor ghosts. It looks like there are a few enemy soldiers headed my way.

  The blasts happen at almost exactly the same time. I don’t even wait. I’m going to have to do this again for the third inner wall.

  Every dome meant for long-term use has three walls. All three are armoured. The outer one is to protect against casual damage like scratches and dents. A few feet inside the outer wall is the middle wall, in case the minor accident is bigger than anticipated. Between the outer and middle wall there is usually a neutral atmosphere acting as an insulation layer. Between the middle and inner wall the entire space is filled with a specially formulated gunk. If anything punches through the outer two walls, the gunk flows out like water. It then solidifies around the opening so that no atmosphere is lost. It’s great for micro-meteorites or stray rounds. All spaceships use the same system. The only problem is, it doesn’t work if the hole is too big.

  I move back around the outer hole and look in. I already have the next demolition charge in my hand and I’m pressing the arming button twice. The huge hole in front of me from the peeled-back wall is oozing lots of gunk. This hole is way too big for that to work. I hurl the demo charge at the inner wall and then duck back again.

  As soon as I hear the blast I’m moving. I head around the corner and through the first hole. With all the bluish gunk pouring out as well as the atmosphere from the inside of the dome, I have to fight my way in.

  I come out in a passage near the airlock. There are four troops down on the ground, shredded by the explosives that I detonated on the inner wall. They are only wearing armour, but no ship suits or anything else yet. They must have run for this position as soon as the alarms went off.

  They’re Kah-Choo troops. From what I can gather, they are not elite. They don’t have enough tattoos or jewellery. Then again, if they were, they wouldn’t have been caught unaware like that.

  The small rat-like beings look pathetic in the emergency lighting that they use.

  I have to shake myself out of this. The pressure from atmosphere blowing past me is dropping off rapidly. They’ve already sealed emergency hatches.

  I bring my rifle up and then turn to my right. I have to get to the objective.

  In the distance I can hear an explosion. Right after the floor starts shaking. Whatever just happened is bad.

  On the positive side, it appears that the interference is fading and I can hear some of what is going on outside and my sensor
s start giving me a better view of the local area.

  I don’t freeze at what I see, but I know I’m in deep shit.

  Falling Back

  The explosion had shaken everyone but the section had expected it and was mostly prepared for when the not-so-distant lander went up under the pounding of the enemy heavy weapons. It had held up well until the three missiles had smashed into its side.

  The lander, with over half its fuel left and all the ammunition still racked, made a glorious scene as the fireball blew up and out, dissipating almost immediately.

  While amazing, the loss of the lander represented the easiest way for the section to get off the moon going up in flames.

  Three of the five survivors took off at a sprint while the other two provided suppressing fire. When the three stopped, the other two dropped their heavy weapons and took off as fast as their armoured legs could carry them.

  Behind them, most of the lightly armoured enemy troops were dead. Almost a third of the elite heavy unit was down, but that left all the rest to continue the pursuit.

  A single group had peeled off to go deal with Eight, but that hadn’t had any real impact on their situation.

  “One. When Three and Four get here, we just take off. We need to be at that lander when it gets there, as it ain’t staying.”

  “Ten. One, we still have Eight in the complex. What do we do about him?”

  “One. We leave.”

  “Ten. One, you’re a shit. We have to get a message through to Eight. We don’t just set our people up like this and then abandon them.”

  “One. We follow the rules, Ten. Time to bug out and save what we can. Move.”

  Both Three and Four bounded over the top of the slag heap and kept running. The other three joined them, with one figure pausing for just a second. Four wasn’t moving quite as fast because of massive damage that he had sustained to the left leg of his armour. Sparks were flying occasionally while he ran.

  Behind them the light infantry took off at a run, and most of the heavy infantry also moved out to catch up to the five fleeing Marines.

  Several groups of two were carrying heavy missile launchers. The Marines had to be leaving in some way, and if that transport could be shot down, the enemy could be made to pay for this invasion.

  In The Dome

  The lander is gone and from what I can see the section, which should have been assaulting forward in support, is now pulling out. It looks like they took heavy casualties. The rules are simple: Follow the mission brief and don’t throw away the lives of your people.

  They’re doing the right thing. But that leaves me hung out to dry.

  I’m somehow down two magazines. I only have six demo charges left and I have all my gear. I have a warning symbol popping up in yellow. Minor impacts on my back, left leg, and chest. It must have been from my initial demo charge.

  I never even noticed it.

  I check my ammo counter just to be sure and see that I am still at full on the magazine and grenade launcher. Good to go. I have to advance and take out the objective with maximum speed and violence. After all, it’s just me down here now.

  I almost freeze at that thought. I’m supposed to be part of a section and we almost never act independently.

  I start moving down the passage to the right.

  The schematic floorplan of these layouts is a big dome top with passages going around the outside and spokes heading inward regularly. Living quarters, workshops, and other facilities will be located in the spokes if the site is new.

  As the Kah-Choo develop any site, they start building down into the planet and expand outward. A single one of these sites can get pretty big. Every outpost and base is built the same way as far as we know. No one knows how big the facility will get or why they develop that much space, though. The Kah-Choo like smaller, comfortable spaces—like the rats that they sort of resemble.

  I am moving slowly and getting used to being in the passage. The passage is about nine feet tall and maybe fourteen feet wide. Big enough for small rovers to drive through and for heavy combat armour to walk comfortably down, two abreast.

  From the little we know about the enemy, this site is not new or I would be almost doubled over moving down a tiny passage.

  There could be hundreds more Kah-Choo inside somewhere. That explains how the military force here was so large.

  I come up to the door and look for any sort of service input for the computers. It takes me a minute to find one and then I plug my small lock-breaker in. The two ends won’t mesh, but the research department fixed things so that isn’t a problem anymore. I extend the wire and carefully push it in so that the two sides are in contact.

  The lock-breaker is a sophisticated supercomputer crammed into a case the size of an old smart phone. It’s not an AI, but its sole purpose is to crack codes through brute force. If this was a high-grade military lock it wouldn’t work, but this isn’t. The lock pops open in seconds. They won’t be locking this door again until they completely remove and replace the mechanism.

  I have to manually open the hatch and atmosphere goes rushing out, but I close it again after I walk through. They are going to know where I am, but as I go farther in they’ll be hesitant to follow.

  There do not appear to be any sensors covering the passage, so no one is likely keeping an eye on me, anyway.

  Too bad. They would have been able to tell those following me not to come through this hatch. I carefully place one of my demolition charges just over the hatch and it clips on.

  Simple but effective. They open the hatch and a second later, boom! Bad day.

  I move on, heading farther inside the building. My schematic is telling me that there should be another door to an inner spoke in a few feet. I find it.

  I use the lock-breaker and go through here as well. Then, I set up another demo charge. When the first one goes, this one will go as well. That should be enough to cause problems for whatever damage-control teams they have, which will cause even more confusion.

  I move down the spoke of the big “wheel” I’m in and find the going a bit tougher. The passage is a bit smaller. If anyone leaps out of an office, it’ll give me less space to move in.

  The hall also isn’t that long; I can see a bigger hatch just ahead of me.

  There are only a few rooms off of the passage and they’re all work rooms and a few labs.

  My sensors are mostly getting distortion and fuzz now from all the alien tech, but I have reads on some movement behind me. The enemy is getting closer.

  Something is not right. I can feel it. There has been no contact inside the outpost, and it feels like the place is abandoned.

  When I come to the inner hatch, it is not even locked, other than the mechanical system holding it shut. My sensor read is that there is nothing on the far side, so there shouldn’t be anything waiting in ambush.

  I open the hatch and move through as fast as I can with my weapon up just in case. Nothing. Looks like my sensors are probably okay here.

  I pop another demo charge on this hatch as well and tie it into the net that the other two are on. When one goes up, they all go up. The loss of atmosphere won’t be huge, but it should cause confusion and fear. I’m going to need every bit of help I can get.

  On my HUD I am getting movement from all over the site. There are over twenty icons headed for my position from three different directions. The group behind me is closest. I guess that the rest are chasing the remnants of the section.

  The room I am in is large and seems to be used to bring everything in from resupply shuttles, and to store some of the vehicles they use on the surface.

  Two vehicles are up on hoists right now and partially disassembled, so I know they at least bring vehicles in for repair. In the centre of the room are two large metal circles with what appear to be large shafts. Elevator shafts for b
ulk movement, I decide.

  I can’t take the elevator disk down. It’ll put me in a kill zone for anyone waiting for me.

  I check around the edge. The metal is flush against the floor, so there is no gap. It is acting as another airlock hatch just in case. Good, solid engineering.

  I pull out another demo charge and slap it on the edge of the metal disk. I hit the arming button and move behind one of the workbenches.

  The explosion isn’t that large, but the charges are supposed to act as an effective shaped charge. I run up to the disk. The hole is just big enough for me to fit through and the metal is warped. The troops behind me won’t be able to take this elevator down, anyway.

  I have to be careful lowering myself in. The edges are jagged. I could jump through head-first, scrape my armour right through, and be fully functional. But given how messed up this op has been from the beginning, I would catch the one weak point and cause some sort of irreparable damage, which would end with me dead by suffocation or something else just as stupid.

  A few seconds of effort shouldn’t be the end of me. At least I hope not.

  Having lowered myself in carefully, I’m holding on to the jagged edge of the elevator shaft with one hand and my rifle in the other. I’m about to let myself drop the thirty feet to the floor below when I stop.

  Should I blow the charges now while I still have a strong signal? Or should I hope that someone trips the booby traps and blows them for me?

  As soon as I’d started lowering myself into the shaft, the signal I was getting from my sensors started breaking up. If I drop thirty feet, I likely won’t be able to get a detonation signal through.

  It doesn’t matter anymore as I hear a distant crump! Someone had opened the first door.