by Tom Germann
Four spoke up, pointing at the outpost that appeared as a red blur. “So they have another weapon system. It just means that their R and D is ahead of ours a bit somewhere.”
Six came out of his dreamy state and snorted. He sat up. “No. None of the races we are in contact with would do something like this. There would be a pirate raid, which would really be some of their troops doing a raid without sanction. They don’t have the technology. None of us do. Worse, if they did have the technology, they couldn’t afford to deploy all of them. This is too much destruction and too many potential wasted resources, and for what? Unpopulated outposts that could be taken out with a few armed soldiers in medium armour.”
“Okay, Six.” Two spoke quietly. “What’s your thought, then, on who’s doing this?”
Six just shook his head no. “Sorry, Two, I wish I had something, but I’m more a finance guy. Most of the races could do this, but it would be too much for them financially and I don’t think any of them operate that way. My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that there is a new race out there that doesn’t like us.”
One snorted. “A new alien race that has never met us but is willing to deploy that sort of missile hardware to take out an uninhabited system that they could do the same damage to with a big shuttle? Right.”
Two stood up. The lights came back up and the display faded away. “All right, everyone, that’s it for now. Jane is working on more data and more info is constantly coming in. There should be a sim for us in a few hours. So everyone take a break and realize that unless something changes, we are dropping on the primary base in less than a day.”
As everyone stood up, I paused. “Excuse me, Two?” I rushed on before she could speak. “I know I’m being paranoid, but if the enemy has these box launchers and they flattened all the outposts here, isn’t it possible that they left a launcher behind with a low-level AI? It would be easy enough to figure that a ship of some sort would be along eventually.” I took a breath. “If whoever this is hates us this much, they could kill one of our starships easily enough.”
One snorted quietly and both Four and Ten glared over at him.
Two seemed to be considering my comments. “Okay, Eight. That could be relevant, but I’m not sure. I’ve let the captain know that sensors need to be up just in case. Just because we’ve never been up against something this new before doesn’t mean it can’t be created by some other race.”
She turned and left, with everyone else filing out. One ignored me.
I was fine with that.
I exited and headed to the small micro-gym that we have and hit the weights for forty minutes, followed by thirty minutes of cardio at a run.
Our next briefing was a few hours later. I had exercised, eaten, and then napped. I felt refreshed and ready for whatever came our way.
I moved into the conference room and sat down. Two walked in last and activated the projector.
The image had changed. We were much closer to our target planet and there were many more icons on the map now.
The view zoomed in so that our ship appeared as a small icon on a dotted path to an insertion point for the section via lander. It looked like we were just a few hours out.
There were red icons all over the planet’s surface. I couldn’t see any blue at all, so none of the transmitters were working, including the small semi-permanent structure in the centre. I looked closer. The surface didn’t look right, but there wasn’t enough detail to make anything out. The image shifted again and then froze with our ship missing.
Two started the brief quickly and she was to-the-point. “The enemy combatants came into the system, deployed missiles, and destroyed as much of the system’s information-gathering systems as possible, detonated some sort of electromagnetic pulse over the planet, and then after they took the base minerals that were stocked her, they dropped a large asteroid on the one permanent structure. We will drop in a few hours. The little information that we have, came from passive sensors that were shielded by distance or luck. We even have one specific satellite that only comes on at set times to gather large quantities of data. It appears that it came on halfway through the strike and recorded a good bit before shutting down again. There does not appear to be any enemy force left in the system, and so far sensors have not picked up anything like a missile box or any other manufactured items. There is still a lot of debris in-system so there is a chance that a missile box is hiding out there somewhere, but those odds are low. We will deploy and see if we can salvage anything, even though it’s doubtful.”
Two stopped and finally looked around at us. “We go in with full combat load, including heavy weapons and two emergency shelters. The shelters are pulled off the lander as soon as we hit and are hidden. Just in case. Get the gear ready. Teams are laid out in the armour room. Move.”
We all leapt up and moved out, jostling at the door then heading down the passage and into the armour room. I had been in there not long ago and did a quick verification on my armour and then weapons. I was partnered with Ten for this one and we would be on overwatch with a missile launcher and several reloads.
We were going in fast and hot, but there should be no enemy on the ground so we were bringing an extra box of missiles just in case something came at us from some sort of hide.
After running system checks on the launcher and missiles, we were ready to go.
We started loading into armour within twenty minutes. My suit came alive around me and then I started running a full system check because we had the time. I had two errors come up. Someone had set me up to have a test fail if I had just hopped into my armour, powered it up, and walked off. The system would have shown me as having a system failure.
It was completely fake—something used to test if you had done the drills correctly on your armour. It wouldn’t have been fatal or even really damaging, but it would have made me look like an idiot.
Only the fact that we had some time and I was running a full check had let me catch it. I reset the two parameters and checked the log. Someone had been in my suit. There was nothing there, of course. I didn’t know that you could delete the logs, but obviously you could.
I could only think of one person who would do this off the top of my head. I hadn’t been moving when I got into my armour; I’d just climbed in and activated it. I brought my sensors online and rotated my view so that I could see One. I caught him looking over at me twice, but that was it.
I finished bringing my suit fully online just as Ten called me through the comms system. “Are you ready to go, Eight? Stop standing around and give me a hand loading these missiles.”
I released the umbilicals with a thought and then stepped forward. I mag-locked my rifle to my back and then moved over to the missile launcher. The case had a roller system underneath, so I just got behind the case and started pushing. We went down the passage and down into the bay.
The loading area is very small. It’s just a closet-sized airlock that we load through directly into one of the two bullet-shaped pods that we have for assault landings.
We carefully loaded the long case in, followed by the ammo case, then we moved out of the way. Loading all this gear into such a small space while wearing armour is like an intricate dance. We bumped into each other a bit but the job got done. We ended up loading the standard combat load that we’d been practicing with, as well as the heavy weapons.
Then we boarded. You’d move back into almost an alcove, wiggling around until the umbilical clicked into position on your side. You could just reach it and give it a wiggle to make sure you were good. Shipboard air and power maintained the armour’s charge, and that’s what you used on the way down. Battery technology is good but the suits only lasted for so long at full combat load, so you made sure that you maintained. Then, when you were connected, you’d make yourself comfortable and when you were good, a series of locking bars would come down and lock y
ou in. Then you mag-locked yourself against the back wall.
I’ve been in a physical simulator where everything went wrong during a practice drop. When you’re fully locked into position, you get shaken around a bit in the armour, but you’re fine at the end of it all. Maybe some bruises.
If you’re not? If you’re lucky, broken bones are the worst that happens to you then.
During a hot insertion there is always a chance that the enemy could get past all the electronic and physical defences that these things have. Unless the entire lander is completely destroyed, then there was typically a fair chance that you’d survive the landing. Mostly.
You could still get shot down and blown to pieces, but you still had a chance. You just needed some luck.
Landing
The last one to board is the section leader. Two does a quick walk around the pod, checking everyone over fast. She takes more time on me. I’m the newb so I just accept it.
Eventually she moves to her bay and loads in. As her armour locks to the wall, the hatch slides shut and after a second I can feel the lurch as the ship releases the pod. Compressed air is used to give us a nudge away from the ship and then we are slowly falling away. There’s no gravity so it feels strange for a few seconds.
Then, as soon as we are away from the ship, which is still pulling away from us under power, the part I hate happens.
I’ve always hated roller coasters and wild rides. Everyone else in my family, including my sister, loved them, but I just automatically threw up on every one I went on. Every time.
The thrusters come online and the AI turns us slowly. Just like getting into the roller coaster car and strapping in. I hate this.
The thrusters go for a hard burn, and then it feels like an elephant is sitting on you and trying to crush you out of the suit through any little crack. But there aren’t any cracks, so it just hurts constantly.
Everyone else is yelling and howling with laughter. They love this shit. I hate them so much. But it’s going to get worse.
The AI is always aware that a landing zone could be hostile and hot, with lots of guns pointing at us. So it goes to an evasive pattern. The ship is thrown back and forth and I can feel my guts doing barrel rolls and then trying to climb up my throat.
My comms line clicks on and I can hear One’s voice over the net. “Hey, newb! I hope you aren’t filling your suit up with puke—it’ll affect the sensors!”
The joyous screaming of my section gets louder. We’re now doing a corkscrewing barrel roll down and to the side. There is no real atmosphere on this rock, so we’re coming in almost straight line down, no matter how much jinking we do one way or the other. Thankfully, we aren’t generating a lot of heat—at least according to the data I’m getting from the sensors on the hull and throughout the pod.
I could even hook into the sensors through the hard line in the umbilical and put the outside view up as my display if I wanted. I tried it once in the sim back on Earth. It took a while to clean all the puke out of the suit, so I don’t plan on doing it again.
I’m holding on and feeling okay until it feels like the entire pod has been hit. One second we’re heading straight down with the jinks back and forth, and the next second the entire pod is spinning around so that now the wide bottom is facing toward the ground.
I can taste lunch in the back of my throat and I choke it back down. We must be getting close to the landing point. The pod whips around and then the rockets should kick in.
It feels like I’ve just been kicked in the guts by the biggest animal in the world. The entire pod is shaking as the engines come up to almost full burn. The pressure builds and I no longer worry about throwing up. Now I’m more worried that we will hit the planet at full speed and come to rest as a metallic smear across the surface.
Then suddenly the pressure eases. The engines seem to ease off and I can feel the landing gear dropping. We settle down with a bump.
The engines haven’t even spooled down and Two is already out of the restraints, off mag-lock and with her umbilicals disengaged, and at the hatch. I’m one of the last to successfully disengage, but it doesn’t matter. I am on heavy support with Ten.
The sides of the pod had rotated open fast. In combat, some of those bolts would just be blown, dropping the door even faster. But there is no need for that now. There is no talking; everyone knows their job. We just run to get into position. Ten had grabbed the case with the launcher and is a flash getting into the pre-positioned site. I grab the extra ammo case and move to the hatch.
The gravity here is low and I am in power armour, o moving the three-hundred-kilogram case is easy. But weight isn’t the only factor: the damn case is still big with mass. So I end up bumping it around the inside of the pod while I get lined up.
Tensing up, I can feel my legs coiling and the suit almost seems to be straining. Then I leap. This is awesome! I cover maybe eighty feet and hit the ground hard. Then the case at my side twists out of my grip and bounces along on its own. Thankfully the case is hard and is heading toward where Ten is moving to set up the launcher.
I run over and grab the case, moving up the slope. By the time I get there Ten is down on a knee with the large case open and the launcher out. You can load one round in the case in advance if the launcher is needed immediately for when you go to the field or if space is limited.
She already has the launcher on standby, resting next to her on its bipod legs. She is pulling out some of the sensors that are used for passive targeting. Each sensor ball weighs a little over three pounds and needs to be placed at least a hundred feet away.
I place the ammo case down on the ground, off to the side so it doesn’t interfere with her activities. I’m the loader in this one, which means I have to set up the sensors.
Ten doesn’t say anything to me but throws me two balls and points first one way and then the other.
I take off to set up the first sensor. I’ve already reviewed the site; the area is mostly open with not much in the way of hills. More like mounds of dirt around the region. An open area will do.
On my HUD I can track the rest of the section. There are two more teams setting up in overwatch with heavy weapons. The rest will be running scans of the area and checking to see what physical evidence they can find of what happened.
The field sensors are actually pretty tough and not that delicate. But I ram the mounting spike into the ground and then carefully place the sensor onto it, turning the ball so that it locks onto the spike. I run a quick system diagnostic. It’s getting a clean signal from the launcher unit. This unit is all good.
I head for the next spot on the opposite side of the launcher.
Again, spike in, sensor clicks onto the spike, and then system check. The signal is clean and strong. I head back to the launcher. My rifle is mag-locked to my side and pushed back just a bit so it doesn’t interfere with my movements or kneeling.
Back at the launcher, Ten has the system set up, resting on its bipod and ready for immediate use. She has the third sensor set up right in front of her and everything looks good.
I take the loader’s position to the side and slightly back from her. I rotate the case and undo the clasps. If we have to go live and engage, as soon as she fires I’ll have the next missile out and reload her.
My comm line clicks on. A direct link from Ten, which is useful for short-range communications and there isn’t enough power to transmit past fifty feet. “Eight, I was young and a newb once. I also did stupid shit like you just did. Next time you offload for a combat op in low gravity, don’t go for the big jump. Heavy stuff will tend to throw you off and go flying off wherever. Do what the rest of us do: small jump, and then move fast.”
Ten picks the launcher up and aims at a spot in the distance, slowly panning the launcher from side to side. From where I am, I can see that the sensors are all green.
She carefully places the launcher down next to her on its bipod. “We have time right now. I want you to pull the manual on the launcher and review setup procedures on your HUD. At the same time I want you to keep tracking the rest of the section. I’ll handle real-time monitoring of the sensors.”
I look around. “We’re in the middle of an op. Shouldn’t I be standing on guard or overwatch while you man the launcher? I mean, the system should notify us if there is a contact, right?”
Ten doesn’t even look over at me. She is kneeling, hunched over, with her head down. It looks like she is praying. But she must be reviewing the data coming in and probably tapping in on the other sensors that are being set up by the rest of the section.
I hadn’t been paying attention to the rest of the area when we landed. I deployed as fast as possible. Something is wrong, I realize.
There should be a small dome and mining equipment in the area. But there is nothing but craters and the scraps from mining that happen when no one cleans up.
Ten’s voice is hard. “Newb, you’re new and I’m cutting you some slack. Do what you’re. . . .” She stops. When she starts again, she doesn’t sound as angry. “Look, Eight. Automation is great, but I’m not going to put the rest of the section’s lives on the line because the computer doesn’t know what to look for. The human eyeball mark one is not really that good. It’s the human brain that can process something that just doesn’t seem right. So I want you to pay attention. I want you to review the manual because that will help keep your mind engaged. I also want you to keep an eye on the rest of the section through your heads-up display because I want you in the habit of staying on your toes. Everyone needs to train up to a certain level. You just got here and you’re figuring it all out. I did the same thing when I first got here. So did everyone else. When we tell you to do something, it’s adding value to your training so that you can handle a real op properly. So carry on and I’ll keep reviewing.”
