Casserine

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “No Sir, I don’t.” Stavros began.

  “Skip the rest,” Jake cut in. “We have to make some calls. Lead the

  _ 55way.

  “I’ll put it through to your quarters, Sir,” Stavros said.

  Jake nodded. “Get me General Risling after I get through to the Commander on Omaha. What’s his name?”

  “Colonel George Langston,” Stavros answered on his way out.

  Jake looked over at Corey and Peters. “You two better get some rest. This all may get complicated real quick.”

  The two pilots nodded their understanding and followed Stavros out of the hatch. Jake grabbed up his equipment, and motioned for Mercer to follow him. Mendoza was already out in the corridor. He fell in behind Jake and Mercer.

  “What’s going on, Jake?” Mercer asked as they walked.

  “If some new force wished to claim this sector, what would be an easier way of doing it other than an open confrontation with us?”

  “You mean plant the Bugs on a planet we have already started colonizing?” Mercer asked in astonishment.

  “Not plant Bugs, Charlie,” Jake replied, “just drop off one or two queens. Hell, we don’t monitor these colonies at all after we get them started up. At least I know they never paid attention to any security on Omaha before the Bug war, when the colonists were annihilated. I doubt they do now either. The escape ships were added as a security blanket for the colonists. They never figured to have to use them after the War ended. It took a while before the attacks began on Omaha. The colony leaders thought it had to do with the mining levels, but I think the mining didn’t matter. Something dropped off a Queen, and let her do her work.”

  “But we beat them,” Mercer pointed out.

  “What if time means nothing to this force?” Jake asked. “What if when the purge didn’t take on Omaha, they just bided their time and then went right on over to Bougainville? What would keep them from hopping back over to Omaha after they gave us something to think about on Bougainville?”

  Mercer followed Jake into his quarters while Mendoza took up a position just outside the hatch. Jake threw his gear down and turned on his linked station.

  “What would this force want?” Mercer continued. “They’d just have a planet full of Bugs, even if they were successful.”

  “What if they know how to control the Bugs, and they have the same interest in mining we do?”

  “We would be in a world of shit,” Mercer said, shaking his head. “We’ll need to put off Bougainville and get our asses back on Omaha, just so we can watch out for those colonists.”

  Stavros voice came over the open com unit. “General, you have the Commandant of the Omaha mining colony on now, Sir.”

  “Stay on, Anton,” Jake said, as he sat down in front of his screen. He could see Stavros in the command center, and on the other half of the screen Colonel Langston sat at a desk in his office on Omaha.

  “Colonel, I want you to lock down the habitat right away. Get your perimeter gunners at their posts. Once you have everyone inside, prep your escape craft. How many Marines do you have under your command?”

  “One company, Sir,” Langston answered. “What’s this all about?”

  Jake went over his fears of another Queen on Omaha brought in by a foreign source.

  “Holy God, I’ve got five thousand colonists on here now,” Langston said fearfully. Jake saw him reach over and hit a switch. Sirens began to blare in the background. He shouted orders over another com unit before coming back into view.

  “We are on our way, Colonel,” Jake promised. “Do you have your sensor setup in the mines?”

  “Yes, but they’re calibrated for plate shifts, General, to warn of tunnel collapse,” Langston explained. “I’ll hone them done to tell us of motion when I get everyone in the habitat. With all the changes on the surface, we were only weeks away from private living quarters all over. Sir, we don’t have enough room on the escape craft for everyone.”

  “Lock it down, Colonel, and we’ll be there in time to evacuate,” Jake replied.

  “I’m on it, Sir. Langston out.”

  “Full speed to Omaha, Anton, and prep all of our Drop Ships. We will only be able to take a company of Marines on each ship, because we’ll need room to take the colonists on board.”

  “Sir, this is an awful big gamble,” Stavros pointed out. “There may not be any danger on Omaha.”

  “Well, Bougainville ain’t going anywhere,” Jake replied. “I’ll take the blame for this if I’m wrong, now let’s get going. Put General Risling through as soon as you get hold of him. Put a call through to Major Stedman. We will need her to cut off from her route and swing the Tennyson by Omaha in case we need to evacuate the Colonists for any length of time.”

  “Aye, aye Sir, Stavros out.”

  Jake turned to Mercer. “Charlie, get with Yuri, and have our men ready. We’ll be in orbit around Omaha in less than two hours. We’ll get some rest as we can once we’re loaded up on the Drop Ships, and ready to deploy. We ain’t losing any Colonists this time.”

  “We’ll be ready, Jake,” Mercer said as he jogged to the door.

  Jake felt the Gallant begin to move, just as General Risling appeared on the screen.

  “What’s this I hear about another infestation on Omaha, Jake?” Risling said with some confusion. “Hell, we’re still absorbing the video stream you took of the recon operation on Bougainville.”

  “I know, Sir. I believe an outside force may be dropping Queens on the two mining colonies to avoid confrontation. They can do it until we give up the posts. I believe they thought we’d be gone from Omaha. When they checked they found even more of us on Omaha, and a new colony on Bougainville. That’s when I believe they infested Bougainville, and when the attack drove the Colonists off, they went over to Omaha and infested it again.”

  Risling rubbed his chin, considering Jake’s words. He looked up after a couple of moments. “Tour theory would go a long way to explaining all of the anomalies we’ve run across.”

  “From the sensor data, we’ve got two Queens on Bougainville, and I further believe they have some way they can control the Bugs. I have them working on the bodies of two I brought on board, and if.”

  “You brought two on board?” Risling broke in. “Let me guess, General, who exactly went out there to get them?”

  “I had back up, and I taped it,” Jake grinned. “I just didn’t think a live feed was in order for that little addition. Anyhow, I have them working on a way we may be able to block the Queen’s signal, and feed in our own. If we can do it, then someone else can too.”

  “What would these raiders want?”

  “To mine the crystals,” Jake answered. “Same as us. The Bugs suck the life out of the planet, according to the information I have. The Queen reproduces until they bleed the planet’s resources to the point where her horde begins to die. I’ll bet if you look at the first explorer’s reports on

  Omaha, it was probably a paradise. By the time we served there, it looked like a moonscape. I bet the same holds true for Bougainville.”

  “If you’re right Jake, someone should have put two and two together at the beginning,” Risling observed. It would have saved a lot of lives on Omaha and Bougainville.”

  “They probably thought the flora started dying out because of something they did with setting up the colony,” Jake mused, “but they should have noticed when the water started drying up. It’s easy to fault someone working under production pressures to get a colony up and running. We’ve warned Omaha, and we are in route. If I’m wrong, I will call and tell you so. If I’m right, I’ll be wiping out the threat on Omaha first, and setting up some kind of satellite warning system to tell us when those jokers check back in.”

  “Maybe we’ve been pretending we’re the only ones out here for too long,” Risling mused.

  “You’re probably wondering what kind of sick SOB’s would set something like those Bugs loose on any race. If they could have
confronted us militarily, they would have. Either that or they just don’t care.”

  “I’ll have to have a Force Cruiser around Omaha and Bougainville on a permanent basis if you’re right about this, Jake.”

  “There must be another Jump Gate around here too, General,” Jake added. “If they had come through at Tarawa, we would have known about it.”

  “Crap, we’ve only just begun branching out from there. I know one thing: those Bugs didn’t come from anywhere we’ve been so far. Well, keep in touch, and take care of yourself. Some genius set up your lovely wife, the redoubtable Lieutenant Byers, with a feed of the Bougainville operation. She was none too pleased at what she saw.”

  “I take it the fact you are a General and she is a Lieutenant did not slow her down a bit, huh?”

  “She used to be a fine officer,” Risling sighed. “That is, until I sent her off on a scientific survey to that.”

  “Do not even tread for a moment down that path, Sir,” Jake cut in, laughing.

  “Enough of your personal problems, General,” Risling chuckled. “I’ll talk to you after you have a chance to look over Omaha, Risling out.”

  Jake sat staring at the blank screen for a moment more, before a knock sounded at the entrance to his quarters. He stood and went over to open the hatch door himself. Colonel Tokoru stood talking with Mendoza.

  “Bob,” Jake said to Mendoza. “Get your gear ready. We’ll be going down to the surface on Omaha. As soon as you’re ready, get some sleep. I’ll call for you on your com unit.”

  Mendoza snapped off a salute, and hurried along the corridor towards the Marines’ Quarters.

  “Come in, Yuri,” Jake gestured the Colonel inside. “Did you talk to Charlie?”

  Tokoru nodded. “We’re ready, Sir. I have them all sacked out in the Drop Ships, ready to deploy, full battle gear. I want to come along this time, General.”

  “Not on the first run, Yuri. We’ll get the colonists the hell off of there before we do anything dangerous. Put the rest of the troops on notice, and stay on those lab jockeys. If we can get a way to block the Queen, we’ll go down in force before the infestation can grow. Go kick some butt in the lab, and scrounge up as much of the epoxy chemicals as we can get. We will need at least a couple of landing zones.”

  “Yes Sir, just don’t leave me out on this mission.”

  “I won’t, Yuri,” Jake promised. “Now go on and get to work. I’m going to clean up and get a little sleep. Give me a shout over the com when we get in orbit around Omaha.”

  “I bet you never thought you’d be going back to Omaha.”

  “If something’s infesting these planets, I’ll have a lot more to worry about than returning to Omaha,” Jake replied, pushing Tokoru towards the hatch. “Get going.”

  “Okay,” Tokoru said over his shoulder, “but you have to survive on Omaha first.”

  “My middle name’s survival,” Jake laughed.

  “I thought it was ‘Pussy Whipped’,” Tokoru retorted, doubling his speed away from the hatch.

  “You dirty…no good.” Jake whispered under his breath as he watched Tokoru double time down the corridor.

  “Good Lord Jake, you were right.”

  Jake had dozed off, and he jumped a little at the sound of Tokoru’s excited voice in his helmet com. He looked around at the Marines strapped in around him on Alpha Drop Ship. “What’s that, Yuri?”

  “Colonel Langston just called in after you launched. They have massive movement in two distinct areas, and the Bugs are on the move. He told me to tell you he has his gunners ready, and the MAG50’s set up to repel any attack. His Colonists are freaking out though. The escape ship is loaded, but he still has over half of the colonists with him, and they are not happy.”

  “Okay, did their escape craft get off?”

  “Yes Sir,” Tokoru replied. “They are almost in orbit now.”

  “How long before the epoxy they spread can support our landings?”

  “Half an hour to be on the safe side.”

  “Has the Tennyson given you an ETA?” Jake asked.

  “They’re still a few hours away, General,” Tokoru answered.

  “We’ll just have to make Bug soup for awhile. I’ll get my company down, and reinforce Langston’s detachment. All Drop Ships will be in close air support until we can land. Patch me through to Colonel Langston. We’re in time, Yuri. Nothing else matters.”

  “I hear you,” Tokoru said. “Here’s Colonel Langston.”

  “Yes, General?”

  “Colonel, we are only minutes away. Keep your people calm. The Tennyson called in and they are only hours away. I have enough room on the Drop Ships to take the rest of you off there. Now that your other escape craft made it off before anything happened, this will be a piece of cake.”

  “If you say so, Sir,” Langston replied, “but we all saw the vid stream from Bougainville, and.”

  “We did not lose a single man,” Jake cut in. “One moron was attacked by a Bug, because he didn’t believe me. Two of the Bug encounter group idiots were killed by a Marine, guarding my escape path. We’ve tested the Epoxy landing zone idea, and it works. They will not be swarming with five Drop Ships clearing the perimeter of our LZ.”

  “How long before you can land on the Epoxy LZ’s?” Langstonasked.

  “Under half an hour, but I’ll be dropping in to reinforce your detachment. It will be imperative you keep order there.”

  “Yes Sir, I see your ships now, General,” Langston observed, relief apparent in his voice.

  “See you in a few. Yuri, switch us to command channel. I want only to hear your voice along with the rest of my party.” “Switching now, Sir,” Tokoru replied.

  Chapter 15

  Rescue On Omaha

  Jake hit the release on his seat harness and stood up. Mendoza, and the rest of the Marines jumped up with him. Jake smiled at them. “Lock and load, boys. We’re going to jump off as the ship hovers, to reinforce Colonel Langston’s Marines until the LZ is safe for landing. We will then guide and herd the civilians on board each Drop Ship, one group at a time, while the others cover us from the air. We will have more trouble with panic from the Colonists than we will with the Bugs, so some of us will be blasting Bugs, and the rest will be kicking the crap out of Colonists who muck up our rescue.

  Jake waited until the laughter died down. “You copy that, Jas?”

  “Yes Sir,” Major Peters, the pilot of Alpha Jump Ship replied.

  “Sara?”

  “Yes Sir,” Captain Corey answered from number two Drop Ship.

  “You will land as soon as the LZ dries. Remember, my company will handle loading the Colonists. Each Drop Ship Marine Company will deploy around their ship to secure the LZ. Charlie, once you get off, stay on the ground and deploy each Marine Company at your discretion as the ships land.”

  “Yes Sir,” Major Mercer acknowledged.

  “Hovering now, Sir,” Major Peters cut in.

  Alpha Drop Ship’s hatch swung down. Jake led his company off, and then he stayed with Mendoza to guard the Marines’ exit.

  “Anything, Tim?” Jake asked his Alpha Deck Gunner.

  “Scanning Jake, and still no eruptions, but you’d better get inside. You know what happens if they break ground under you.”

  “On our way,” Jake replied as the last of the Marines from Alpha exited the ship and ran for the habitat entrance. Major Peters had dropped them within twenty yards of the habitat perimeter. Five of Langston’s men were guarding the open entrance into the habitat.

  Jake tapped Mendoza on the shoulder, and gestured for him to move out. As Jake followed him, the ground started erupting right under his feet.

  “Take off, Jas, they’re coming up,” Jake ordered as he ran up behind Mendoza, and grabbed the back of his armored top. He picked Mendoza up off the splitting surface, doubling their speed over the remaining ground.

  Dropping Mendoza, Jake turned as Alpha Drop Ship lifted off, and Bugs exploded u
p out of the ruptured surface. Jake’s first burst blew the lead Bugs into pieces as the remaining Marines at the entrance retreated inside. Mendoza joined his commander, and they provided a wall of particle beam fire. After Major Peters positioned Alpha so Chief Gunner’s Mate Dougherty could open up with the deck gun, Jake entered the Omaha habitat with Mendoza close behind.

  “We’re inside folks,” Jake said. “Let ‘em have it.”

  All five Drop Ships deployed around the drying LZ, as the deck gunners opened up. Nothing lived even a split second above ground. Inside the habitat, Jake surveyed the frightened Colonists. Some were still screaming at what they had just seen come out of the ground. Jake shook hands with Colonel Langston as he removed his helmet.

  “I’m sure glad to see you, General.”

  “How’s the crowd control going?” Jake asked, scanning the nearly two thousand Colonists filling up the huge entry area of the massive habitat. They were on the edge of chaos.

  “Not good, Sir,” Langston admitted. “They almost streamed right past my guards to try and board your Drop Ship. They would have ran right into the Bugs.”

  Jake nodded and turned to Mendoza. “Pick five men now, Bob.”

  Mendoza jogged over to the Alpha Drop Ship Marines, and picked out five men to hustle back beside Jake with him.

  “You five sling your rifles, and draw your sidearms,” Jake ordered.

  They complied instantly. Jake nodded and turned to walk over to the surging Colonists. With a gesture from him, the five Marines dropped to one knee, as Jake had drilled them before leaving the Gallant, and aimed their sidearms directly at the crowd. Mendoza took up a position with his particle beam rifle just behind them. There were shocked gasps and screams at the Marines’ actions.

  “Silence!” Jake shouted. When the crowd quieted, Jake gestured to the Marines behind him. “These Marines kill at my command. I have no time for foolishness. Any Colonist who does not instantly obey my commands will be executed.”

  A disheveled man, even taller than Jake, and half again as large in bulk, stepped forward. He pointed a finger at Jake. “We don’t take orders from jarheads. There are a hell of.”