by B. V. Larson
I trotted after Fourth Battalion to catch up. Several minutes later, the Crustaceans finally responded.
“We have reconsidered,” they said. “We’ve been monitoring your advance toward the machines. We will march out of the water on the western side of the island to join you when the attack begins.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll give new orders to my men. They will avoid damaging any more of your nests if possible. Let’s hope this combined assault will begin a new era of cooperation between our two peoples.”
“Possibly, it will,” the Crustaceans said. “Pain is instructive. Let the learning begin.”
I frowned after the connection was broken. I wasn’t entirely sure what they’d meant by their final statement.
-22-
Major Sloan was pleased to hear I’d gotten a commitment from the Crustaceans. In his mind, they’d been entirely too complacent during this campaign.
“Those Lobsters have been lying back and milking it all along,” he said. “It’s about time you got them on board, sir.”
I nodded disinterestedly. Everyone I’d spoken with felt that way. But what seemed like a no-brainer to most of my officers was a big move for the Crustaceans. I understood that they’d already suffered significantly in this war, and if Star Force failed to push back the machines, they’d suffer a great deal more. They were taking a big risk. The change of heart on their part was a very serious decision.
“What made them do it?” asked Sloan.
I looked at him vaguely. I’d been thinking about how to take down the fortifications we were about to walk into.
“What was that, Major?” I asked him.
“How did you get these water-chickens to join us? How did you talk them into it?”
I thought about Kwon and his starring role in the egg-crushing vid I’d sent them. What a brutal image that must have been for them. I decided to leave that detail out of my explanation.
“I just put out the facts as I saw them,” I said. “They’ve been watching us, and they know the score. They know we’re pushing their enemy back for them. The machines have mistreated them horribly, and there was a tipping point that made them decide to act.”
I went on to briefly explain the desecration of their nests. I showed him a few stills of the crushed eggs and told him how the nests were being used by the machines to emplace automated weaponry.
“Ah,” Sloan said, eyeing the pictures. “They finally got mad.”
“Yeah, I guess so. A lot of wars are declared that way.”
About a mile ahead of us, I heard the ripping sound of heavy automatic weapons firing. I zoomed in with my visor, but could only see a few plumes of smoke.
“Looks like the recon team has made contact,” Sloan said.
I attempted to contact Gaines, but with no success. While I was doing that, the sounds of combat became louder and more widely dispersed. I still couldn’t see anything as the action was occurring higher up on the mountain out of my line of sight.
I felt an urge to fly up and have a look around, but resisted it. There was no sense in making a more visible target of myself.
Finally, Captain Gaines responded to my queries.
“Pinned down, sir. We’ve lost one man, another injured. Three of the gun nests woke up at once. We’ve taken cover for now. Requesting assistance.”
“Gaines, light up the nests for me,” I said. “I’ll call in air support.”
“Will do.”
I worked my HUD system to contact Fleet. In the meantime, Major Sloan tried to get my attention.
“What is it, Major?” I asked.
“I just wanted to remind you that you told the Lobsters we’d leave their nests alone. Since we recently reached a new level of relations with them…”
“That’s just too bad,” I snapped. “We can’t take out those weapons without breaking a few fossilized eggs, I’m afraid. I’m calling in the strike.”
Sloan threw up his hands in defeat and got out of my face. I called Sarin, and learned she was one step ahead of me.
“We’ve tracked the enemy positions and a squadron of fighters is dropping. They’re sub-orbital now, and will be there in about fifty seconds. Tell your men to duck, Colonel.”
“Will do, Riggs out.”
I relayed the information, got every marine to take cover and we watched the show. It happened so fast, it was hard to track with the eye. The fighters fell like curving meteors, they were fireballs in the sky. There was no mistaking where they were, as they left contrails of burning vapor.
“The whole mountain is lighting up,” Major Sloan said in awe.
It was true. In response to the airborne threat, streams of enemy fire rose up into the sky.
“Good,” I said. “They’re giving away their positions.”
The enemy guns send a storm of bullets upward to greet the fighters. But they were shooting where the fighters had already been. They couldn’t track fast enough to hit our ships.
Making an extremely fast, low run over our heads, the squadron performed a hit and run strike that lasted about two seconds. Before we really knew what was happening, they were past the central mountain range in two groups of twelve, one veering north and other south. As they passed, they fired a stabbing series of laser pulses down at the enemy targets, both those lit up by Gaines and others that were showing themselves now. As far as I could tell from the ground, not a single fighter had been shot down.
“That’s it!” I shouted over the general channel. “Fleet did their part, now it’s our turn. All companies advance, double-time. Let’s finish the job!”
A roar went up in my headset as men gave their battle-cries and got their metal-encased legs churning. We charged forward on a wide front. At the same time, reports flooded in from the other battalions offshore. They’d been crawling up to a point where they were just under the surface of the sea. Since it was mid-tide now, that let them in considerably closer than they’d managed to get before.
Unfortunately, not all the gun nests had been knocked out. We quickly discovered this as we rushed into range of one defensive fortification after another. There was no clean way to slow down or break off at this point, so I ordered the companies to get in there and take the nests apart with their gauntlets if they had to.
The fighting became intense when the enemy troops finally made an appearance. I’d known all along that someone had to be moving these gun emplacements and servicing them. I realized as the Macro marines had been hiding up here all along when they surged forward out of burrows in the limestone crags. They’d been letting their automated weaponry do the defensive work, but something had changed Macro Command’s mind about that. I suspected it was the hard-hitting strike by Sarin’s fighter squadron.
Even as we charged, they boiled out of the ground to meet us. I hadn’t fought a Macro marine in close combat for nearly a year, and I’d forgotten how big they were when compared to the workers and technicians.
Like termite soldiers, they were twice the size and weight of the workers. They were outfitted with ballistic weaponry as well as lasers this time. I immediately theorized the design was meant to make them operational in the varied environments of Yale.
The head-sections had heavy beam weapons mounted alongside most of the optical inputs. The thorax sported dual heavy guns to back up the swiveling head section. These were fixed-directional fire, and the machines had to move themselves around to get a bead on a target.
Once they did, however, the results were impressive. The output of high-velocity lead hammered a marine in power armor, pushing him back physically. The swiveling head-mounted beams burned and slashed, scoring our suits and leaving inch-deep gouges in our chest plates.
That was about all I had the chance to observe before I was in the middle of my own private firefight. I’d been working my way around a spur of rock out of the enemy line of sight. When I was in position, I sprang up, using my suits grav-lifters to propel me forty feet into the air. Whe
n I came down, I was standing almost on top of an enemy automated gun.
Taking two crunching steps forward allowed me to lay my gauntlets on the steaming barrel. I had surprised it, and it was busy showering my men farther downslope with thousands of rounds.
The machine’s reaction was almost human. It began to struggle and twist in my grasp. I held on and heaved. The strength of my exoskeleton, combined with my own physical power, was shocking. I ripped the gun loose from its moorings despite the fact it had to weigh more than a ton and hurled it down to crash on the nearest set of spiky rocks. There, it squirmed and malfunctioned.
I experienced a surge of triumph, but it was short-lived. Now that I was up high on a nesting site, the rest of the battlefield participants took notice of me. Passing marines struggling up the cliffs waved and gave me a ragged cheer.
The machines, however, were not so accommodating. They unleashed a barrage of bullets and laser fire. I dropped to the ground and rolled off the steepest side of the hillock I was on and crashed onto a pile of fallen boulders. A single crack had appeared in my visor, making a jagged line of bright white that obscured my vision.
I laid there for a full second, stunned. A huge figure loomed over me, and I struggled to get up. For a moment, I thought it was a Macro marine moving in for the kill.
“You’re armor is smoking,” Kwon said over proximity chat.
I groaned and let him help me up. I wondered how many times he’d helped me to my feet. I didn’t want to know the answer, really. I was sure it was depressing.
“I’m getting too old for this shit,” I said.
“You say that all the time,” Kwon said. “I’ll be old when I fall over dead. Until then, I fight.”
I nodded and stood beside him. The world was no longer spinning, and the cracks in my armor had been sealed over by the industrious nanites. Internal injuries were also being repaired with similar steady efficiency.
“You’re a philosopher, Kwon.”
“Thank you, sir.”
We marched back up the hill I’d just been blown off of. By the time we reached the peak, this section of the fight was over. My marines had done well. I counted no more than a dozen men on their backs, and most of them were probably going to make it. They only had to be left alone long enough to heal up.
I wasn’t sure they were going to get that chance, unfortunately. The enemy marines had dug in on the next ridge. I could see them up there now, hundreds of flashing metal bodies moving around. They were obscured by the ridge they were hiding behind, but showed enough of themselves to tip their big lasers down and take pot-shots at my struggling marines.
In turn, we were firing back. We’d taken out all the gun nests at our elevation, but there were plenty more above and plenty more enemy marines supporting them.
“All right,” I said, contacting Major Sloan, “We’ve advanced as far as we can with this rush. If we push up that next ridge without support, we’ll be cut to pieces. Tell every company to seek shelter and find a rock to hide behind. Put half the men on digging, half the men on pinning down those Macro snipers and the rest on clearing the tunnels.”
“That’s three halves, sir,” Sloan complained.
“Are you telling me a Star Force marine isn’t worth an extra half-man?”
“Wouldn’t dare sir. I’m on it.”
While he relayed orders and assigned specific companies to specific tasks, I made some calls to find out how the beach assault was going. The short answer was: “not good.”
“Colonel Riggs, sir? This is Captain Grass, Second Battalion.”
I squinted my eyes, trying to recall having put a Centaur in charge of a battalion. I failed. I was pretty sure I’d put a Major in charge of every battalion.
“What happened to Major Dansk?”
“Her blood waters the grass, sir.”
“I see. You’re the most senior officer in the battalion, right? I’m placing you in acting command of the Second, do you read that?”
“Yes, Colonel.”
“Now, report your status.”
“We’ve taken the beach sir, but we can’t get any farther uphill. The dishonorable enemy had hidden a portion of their forces. They’re fighting with marines now sir, not just automated turrets.”
I frowned. “I know that. They can be taken out.”
“We’re pinned down and waiting for support from the heavens.”
My frown deepened. “You’re not getting another pass from the fighters, if that’s what you mean. Not right away. The fighters are back up in orbit, and the Macros know we have them now. They might have set up AA in response to shoot them down if they make another pass.”
“I understand, Colonel. The machines feel no wind in their fur, because they have none. What are my orders?”
“You’re orders are to take the frigging ridge. If you can get up there, you’ll be able to link up with the Ninth. It’s only about a mile, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“What are our rules of engagement, sir?”
I was getting angry. For a moment, I forgot I was talking to a Centaur. They had good hearts, and they’d learned to interact with us more naturally, but they still weren’t human. I thought back and relived the conversation later. If I’d made a mistake, it was in believing the little mountain goat’s brain operated the way a human’s brain did. But they didn’t, and they were about to reeducate me on this point.
“Stop hiding on the beach. Charge up there and take the next ridge, by any means necessary. Do you understand, Captain?”
“Your words are like cold spring waters, Colonel.”
I broke the connection, shaking my head. I walked over to Kwon and went over a computer scroll with him for about a minute. The scroll depicted the battle situation in detail. I frowned as I went over the fresh data, transmitted from Fleet by Sarin.
There were an alarming number of red blocks lined up against the beach the Second was on. I looked at that, and suddenly understood: they were never going to take that ridge. If they tried, it might turn into a slaughter.
Cursing myself and the Centaur who hadn’t clearly told me what he was up against, I tried to raise Captain Grass again, but couldn’t.
As I tapped on my helmet, my visor went pitch-black. A tiny fraction of a second later, the blackness brightened as the filters were overwhelmed by the intensity of the light.
I staggered back and threw myself on my chest. “Everyone down!” I shouted over my headset to every marine in the force. I don’t think anyone heard me, as a tremendous roar had swept over us by now.
I was lifted up and slammed down again. It felt as if the rocky mountainside under my body had bucked me into the air. I rolled and loosened rocks rolled with me.
When I could stand up, I fought my visor controls, forcing them to let my eyes see what was happening to the north. In my heart, I already knew what I’d see.
There was a rolling cloud there, less than a mile off. It was just beginning to take the traditional mushroom shape as I watched. The core of it still glowed with fire.
“They say one of those crazy goats ran up the ridge and blew himself up!” Kwon said, coming to stand next to me.
“Yeah?” I asked, feeling a little sick inside.
“Yeah. He blew up his troops with him, too. Must have gone nuts.”
“Maybe,” I said, “or maybe he just thought he was following orders.”
Kwon looked at me strangely and shook his head.
I watched the mushroom cloud until it dissipated. I decided then and there that Centaurs weren’t going to be rising in ranks above the level of Captain again anytime soon.
-23-
In the end, the sacrifice of Captain Grass helped our assault. First of all, it blew a hole in the enemy line. Secondly, it made me realize the enemy wasn’t going to give this island up without a hard fight, and that I didn’t want to suffer those kinds of losses. I decided it was time to call upon Fleet again.
I ordered a hea
vy bombardment by every gunship I had, followed up with another series of air strikes by the fighters.
I knew I might weaken my ships for a later battle in space, where the fighters would be far more decisive, but I couldn’t take this mountain without help. Besides, if we didn’t use them when we needed them, they might as well be knocked out already.
I gritted my teeth and squinted as a squadron made another pass. This time, the machines were ready. Beams stabbed up into the murky sky to meet my fighters. Three were lost before they reached attack range. Three more were lost as they passed by and vanished into the sky again.
“Dammit!” I roared.
Twisted, flaming wreckage showered the island. Glowing flares of red light sprang up all over the island at the same time, showing where the fighters had made their strikes.
I quickly contacted Sarin. “Did you get those AA positions zeroed?”
“Yes sir,” she said, “the gunships are already bombarding them. Do you want another pass by the fighters?”
I took two hissing breaths before answering.
“Yes, one more pass,” I said at last. “Don’t send them until the gunships have suppressed all known AA sites. After that, have the gunships soften them up for ten full minutes, then I’ll order another ground assault.”
After I broke the connection with Sarin, I turned to Sloan. I wasn’t in a happy mood. “We’re about to lose more fighters,” I said.
“I heard.”
“Where are those troops the lobsters promised us?”
Major Sloan tapped at the roll-up screen we had spread over a rock between us. “We’ve got contacts here,” he said.
Four blue rectangles had appeared on the shoreline at the foot of the central mountain we were assaulting.
“They’re still on the beach?” I demanded.
“Not really sir, it’s still high tide. So…they’re underwater.”
