by Peter Grant
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ATHI – HEADQUARTERS, 24th MARINE EXPEDITIONARY BATTALION – 09:00
Captain Willoughby strode unsteadily through the Marines at the entrance, pushing them out of his way as he looked around. He walked over to Lieutenant-Colonel Neilson and saluted shakily. “We made it back at last, sir. Mission accomplished. We got all the women and children out, with only a few of them wounded.”
Neilson returned his salute. His face was somber. “I know your casualties were heavy. Numbers?”
“Seven dead, fifteen wounded, and a couple of the injured aren’t likely to make it. I’m sorry to say that includes Major Shelby, sir. We got him here as fast as we could, but it took time to find him, dig him out of the rubble, and get him to an ambulance shuttle. Fortunately, most of the Kotai nearby were killed in the barrage. Those that were left tried, but they couldn’t stop us. The doctors are working on him now, sir, but it doesn’t look good.”
Neilson shook his head. “He’s a damn fine Marine. If fighting spirit will pull him through, he’s got it in spades.”
“Yes, sir. I’d like to formally nominate Major Shelby for the Lancastrian Star of Valor, sir. He was injured while deliberately acting as a target beacon for incoming rounds, to break the back of a Kotai attack so that the women and children could get away. I watched it from the air, sir, where we were providing top cover. I’ve never seen anything so brave in my life! I’ve had his fire team sergeant save all the details of the engagement from his Marines’ armor, sir.”
“Thank you, Captain. We’ll have a breathing space for a few hours while we gear up for several assaults. Use some of that time to submit your recommendation in writing, along with supporting evidence. I’ll endorse it, and we’ll get it started up the chain of command.”
“Yes, sir.”
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ATHI – FIELD HOSPITAL, 24th MARINE EXPEDITIONARY BATTALION – 09:20
The whine and scream of high-speed miniaturized saws died away as they cut through the last mangled piece of armor over Brooks’ legs. He lay comatose, barely breathing, as the surgical team lifted the metal away and stared at the ruin they’d left behind.
“What does the AI say?” Dr. Patti Sinclair demanded, turning her head towards a nursing aide, who wiped the perspiration from her brow with a towel without having to be asked.
From the other side of the surgical table, Dr. Peniakoff answered softly, eyes hidden from sight behind the virtual reality goggles he was wearing, “It’s as bad as it can get. He suffered brutal crush injuries, and they were left untreated too long while they dug him out and brought him here.” His eyes flickered from display to display as he spoke, reading the information that was constantly being updated and presented to him by the artificial intelligence system. “He’s got multiple fractures to his pelvis, and multiple fractures to his upper and lower legs. His body’s already going into full-blown crush syndrome; massive shock, rhabdomyolysis, renal failure under the toxic overload of compounds being released into his blood by the damaged tissues, hypotension… the works. He’ll go into cardiac failure within fifteen minutes. Absent a full Class 1 trauma facility, I don’t think we can stop it.”
“Do we have time to get him up to Edith Cavell in orbit?”
“No. He couldn’t survive the journey.” His voice changed suddenly. “What if we do it the hard way? We can cut off or take out everything that might kill him, and put him on total cardiac and renal support. I know a field hospital doesn’t have the facilities, and we don’t have the skills, to do all of that properly; but the evacuation pod has emergency robotic surgical facilities, and we can take care of the rest in a rough-and-ready fashion. If he lives long enough for us to do that, the pod will keep him alive for up to 48 hours. We’d have to get him to Cavell by then, or lose him.”
“You know this guy’s a damned hero, right?”
“I heard. Saved something like two hundred women and children by using himself as a living target beacon.”
“Right. If he can do that for them, we can do this for him.”
“If you say so… but it’s going to take us several hours to do it right, then get him into the pod. He may not survive that.”
“He may not, but it’s the only chance he’s got, so we’re going to give it to him. It looks like there’ll be a lull in proceedings before the next round of fighting, so let’s take advantage of that. What do we need?”
“A full surgical nursing team, for a start. A skeleton crew like this won’t be enough. We’ll have to put an evacuation pod right next to the table, and plumb him into it as we work. His heart’s showing severe trauma overload. It’ll stop for sure before long. We’ve got to take care of that before anything else. Kidneys – we may as well bypass his, they’re shutting down as we speak. They’ll have to clone a new heart and kidneys for him. Legs, too, and everything between them. They’re all going to have to come off. He’ll need enhanced blood filtration for at least a week, to get rid of all the poisons his own body is dumping into his bloodstream. When we finish all that, and close the pod, we’ll have to allow time for his condition to stabilize before we send him up to the ship.”
She nodded firmly. “That’s a hell of a lot to lose, but everything can be cloned and replaced over time, provided we can keep him alive. He’s earned the chance. Let’s get to work.”
December 6, 2851 GSC, 12:00 – 16:00
ATHI ORBIT – ORBITAL CONTROL CENTER – 12:00
The sentries at the double doors to OrbCon stiffened to attention as they approached. One of them opened the door and ushered them through. They halted inside the doors, looking around.
A uniformed figure noticed them, and swung away from the Plot display, hurrying over. “Lieutenant-Commander Maxwell?”
“Yes, sir.” Steve stiffened to attention and saluted as he saw the insignia of Commodore’s rank on the man’s uniform.
“I’m Commodore Singh, Officer Commanding Space Forces for the UP mission. I’m honored to meet you. You saved all of us from what would have been utter disaster! If those Kotai had managed to sneak up on us without being detected, I’ve no doubt we’d all have been killed. We owe you our lives, and I’m going to make sure your Board of Admiralty understands that very clearly.”
Steve flushed as he took the Commodore’s proffered hand. “Thank you, sir, but it wasn’t just me. It was all of my crew, too, and also this man.” He motioned Lieutenant Chetty to step forward, and introduced him. “He helped us escape from Devakai after the coup, and provided valuable information about the planet’s patrol craft, the Kotai, and other matters. He and his parents were outspoken opponents of Kodan Sastagan. That’s why I brought them with us. They’d have been killed if they stayed there.”
Singh shook the Lieutenant’s hand enthusiastically, then did the same to his parents, greeting them in Hindi. Their faces lit up to hear another officer speaking their native language, and they talked for a few minutes before the Commodore turned back to Steve. “I’ve told them that we need input from all three of them – as much as they can tell us about the Kotai religion, to help us deal with the fanatics on this planet, and then as much as they can about Devakai itself. I assure you, an attack like this is going to provoke an armed response from the Bihar Confederation. The last thing we want is to have this heresy spreading across our sector of the settled galaxy! I’m going to dispatch a destroyer to tell them about this attack as soon as we’ve secured the Athi system. I’ll be surprised if Devakai isn’t under blockade by a squadron of Bihar destroyers within the month.”
“Yes, sir. I mentioned to Lieutenant Chetty that he might want to apply for a position with Athi’s Planetary Self-Defense Force; but if the Bihar Confederation is going to get involved with Devakai, he might be better advised to talk to you about that. I’ll be glad to write a letter of recommendation.” He lowered his voice. “I’m also going to nominate him for the Lancastrian Cross in Bronze, in recognition of the help he provided us in getting away
from Devakai.”
“They’ll both help him, I’m sure.” Singh turned to the young officer. “I’ll guarantee you the same rank and seniority in our forces that you had in Devakai’s, if you’d like to take service with us; and I’ll guarantee well-paid consultant’s positions for your mother and father, too. You’ll all be based on Bihar itself, if you accept. I’ll send you there aboard the destroyer I dispatch with the news. We know very little about Devakai, so you’ll all be welcomed with open arms.”
“Thank you, sir. I accept with gratitude, and I know my parents will too,” the young officer said with a sigh of relief. “It’s good to know we’ll be part of cleansing Devakai from the fanatics that have taken over there. We’ll cooperate with any security investigation you require, of course.”
The Commodore waved his hand dismissively. “There’ll be one, of course, but the fact that you aided Lieutenant-Commander Maxwell and the UP diplomats to escape is already very much in your favor. I don’t think you need to worry.” He signaled to an aide. “I’ll have Lieutenant Banerjee escort you to our guest quarters and assign you rooms. See your parents settled in, Lieutenant, then come back here, please. This fight is far from over, and we can use your help to plan our next moves.”
“Yes, sir.”
Steve watched them leave, holding back a smile. Chetty had been genuinely worried that they’d be regarded as potential traitors, despite Steve’s assurances. He didn’t look worried now – quite the opposite, in fact. Steve had given him another ten months’ salary in cash and gold taels before leaving LCS Pickle, and had him sign a receipt for it. Commodore Wu might be annoyed that Steve had used so much of his expense money on a stipend to a foreign national who wasn’t even going to serve with the Fleet; but, as the old saying went, it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
Singh turned back to Steve. “Come to the Plot, please, Commander. You saw that fight with our patrol line, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir. We watched it on our Plot display. Do we have any word yet about casualties?”
“Three of your patrol craft were lost with all hands, and there were eighteen survivors from the fourth. I’m told there were one hundred and twenty-four killed.”
Steve winced. That was the biggest loss of life the Lancastrian Commonwealth Fleet had suffered since a Hero class destroyer, LCS Lakshmibai, had suffered heavy damage and casualties while fighting a pirate ship, almost nine years before. Over half her crew had become casualties, including her Commanding Officer. However, many of them had been wounded, rather than killed. The body count from this battle would be the highest in many years, even without including any Marine casualties on the planet below.
“That’s going to go down like a lead balloon in Lancaster when the news gets out, sir,” he observed sadly.
“You’re right. It was an important lesson to all of us. I’m afraid we’d fallen into the trap of regarding the Kotai as primitive barbarians. This has reminded us that they may be primitive, and they may be barbarians in the way they act, but they have brains and potent weapons, and they know how to use them. We’re already adjusting our tactics as we look for the rest of them.”
He pointed to various features in the Plot display as he spoke. “Our four destroyers are forming a new patrol line, each deploying two drones to thicken it. They’re pulling back to half a light-hour from Athi, to make it difficult for the Kotai small craft to swing around behind them. The two surviving patrol craft from the screening line will join the two in Athi orbit to form a close screen, trying to prevent the Kotai from reaching the orbitals. I’ve told all vessels to reserve their main battery missiles for larger targets, because we still don’t know where the last two Devakai patrol craft are, or the freighter on which they all arrived. They’re out there somewhere, maneuvering very slowly and quietly so we can’t detect them.”
“I don’t think we’ve heard the last of them, sir.”
“I don’t think so either. One scenario is that they may hang around in the system, with the patrol craft resupplied by the freighter as necessary, and attack traffic to and from the system boundary. They could strike without warning from almost anywhere, provided they’re careful not to be detected. I personally don’t think that’s likely, though. After all, they have limited reaction mass tankage. When that runs out, they won’t be able to use their reaction thrusters any longer. They’ll be forced to use their gravitic drives instead, and we should be able to pick up those emissions.”
“Er… sir, that may not be the case. That freighter may have additional supplies of reaction mass in one of its holds. If it does, it could refill all three ships’ tanks as often as necessary.”
Singh shook his head in exasperation. “Why didn’t we think of that? You’re right, of course. D’you think that’s likely?”
“I don’t know, sir. If I were in their shoes, it would be more important to make sure that as many as possible of their small craft made it down to the planet, particularly their assault shuttles and armored troops. That’s the only thing that can give them fighting parity with our Marines and the Darwin battalion. If I were them, I’d be planning to use one of those patrol craft to attack the destroyer line. If it could throw them into confusion, that would let a lot of their small craft sneak past under cover of all the fuss. I’d send the other to attack the patrol craft guarding Athi orbit, to create a diversion that will let their small craft reach the orbitals. As for the freighter, I’d use it to cause a distraction, drawing ships away from Athi that might otherwise intercept the small craft. I hate to say this, sir, but the Kotai are ruthless enough that they might even use it as a weapon.”
“A freighter as a weapon? What do you mean?”
“Sir, did you ever read about Rolla’s encounter with the pirate Constandt de Bouff, some years ago?”
“He tried to launch asteroids against their capital city, didn’t he?”
“Yes, sir. I helped to stop him. Also, Banka, the capital city of Laredo, was destroyed by Bactrian invaders a few years ago. They crashed a captured spaceship into it at one-tenth Cee.”
The Commodore nodded. “That’s one of the incidents that led to United Planets sanctions against Bactria.”
“Yes, sir. What if the Kotai decided to crash that freighter into Karaidi, Athi’s capital city? They’d decapitate its political and military leadership, cause millions of casualties, and throw its armed forces into turmoil. Athi’s troops would almost certainly abandon military operations and turn to rescuing survivors, throwing the entire burden of defense onto the two United Planets armored battalions. I don’t know whether they’d be strong enough on their own to cope with an attack by up to eight thousand Kotai, spearheaded by assault shuttles and armored troops, sir.”
“May I say, Lieutenant-Commander, that I really, really don’t like what you’re saying?” The speaker was a man in Athi uniform. “I’m Major Padmanabhan, the Planetary Self-Defense Force representative at OrbCon. Understand, please, I meant nothing personal by that remark. I just hate to think that you may be right!” He looked almost pleadingly at Commodore Singh. “Please tell me he’s not?”
“I wish I could, Major, but what he’s said is entirely feasible from a tactical perspective, and the Kotai have proven time and time again that they’re ruthless enough to try something like that. Their only real problem will be to get onto a collision course with Karaidi without being detected. Now that we’ve been reminded of the possibility, we’ll rearrange our defenses to make that as difficult as possible. Thank you, Commander.”
“I won’t say it was a pleasure, sir, because the thought isn’t a pleasure – it’s a nightmare! Still, better to be on guard against it, just in case. May I ask what your intentions are concerning LCS Pickle, sir? I need to get the diplomatic delegation back to Lancaster as quickly as possible. They’re already complaining about waiting here in orbit.”
“I understand that’s your primary mission, Commander, but I’d be very grateful if you’d please wait
a day or two longer. I’m going to need to get details of the attack here back to Lancaster as quickly as possible, particularly casualty reports, and ask them for reinforcements in space and on the ground. I know your ship isn’t under my command, so I can’t give you orders, but if you’ll agree to do that, it would be of enormous value to us.”
“I’ll do it, sir. This sort of crisis warrants departing from my orders. If the diplomats want to complain… let’s just say I’ll deal with that if the need arises, sir.”
“You’ll have a letter of commendation from me to your Admiralty to help with that. I shudder to think what would have happened if your warning hadn’t reached us in time!”
“Glad we could help, sir. I’ll also remind the diplomats about those two surviving Devakai patrol craft. We should wait until they’ve been dealt with before we leave. It would ruin our day if we ran into some of their missiles while we were heading for the system boundary.”
Singh snorted with amusement. “Yes, that should concentrate their minds wonderfully!”
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ATHI – HEADQUARTERS, 24th MARINE EXPEDITIONARY BATTALION – 14:00
Lieutenant-Colonel Neilson and his staff stood around the map table, watching icons move and arrows appear and disappear as Major-General Attenborough, at planetary HQ, updated his plans.
“That’s it, then,” the General concluded over the comm circuit. “Your Marines will hit those three concentrations of Kotai an hour before dawn tomorrow. The Darwin battalion will hit the other three at the same time. I estimate we’ll have to deal with about two and a half thousand Kotai fighters in all, less the casualties inflicted on them today when they tried to prevent us concentrating our forces. OrbCon tells me that, moving as they are at one-tenth of the speed of light, the small craft launched from that freighter will begin arriving in orbit at about noon tomorrow. If we can occupy their rendezvous points and knock out their local allies before they get here, that’s half the battle won. Forces in space will do all they can to thin their numbers before they enter atmosphere, and we’ll greet the survivors with our missiles and plasma cannon. With luck, few of them will survive to set foot on Athi. Any questions?”
