The Borrega Test

by James Vincett

  “Clear the command deck,” Tors said. “All of you.”

  The crew, including Admiral Tors, exited the command deck. Robert McFinn’s image reappeared over the sitrep table.

  “So, you’re behind all of this?” Joshua asked.

  Robert smiled and shook his head. “You’ve spoken with Pederson, I see.”

  “Do you know what you and that psychopath have done here?”

  “Joshua, let me exp …”

  “This is the same shit you’ve always pulled, but this time it’s far worse. There will be no peace with the Naati now. How many people need to die so you can realize your ambitions?”

  “What I do, I do for the Union. And you.”

  “Oh, no. You’re not going to lay that crap on me anymore. What about Her Majesty? What’s she in all of this?”

  “Her Majesty sees war with the Naati as inevitable.”

  “Inevitable? We, I, almost had a peace agreement!”

  Robert smiled and shook his head. “Don’t you see it? This all started with Kilgore. He had it right, all along. Humans, the Hominin Union, must come first, no matter what the cost. Her Majesty realizes this. War was just delayed, and war delayed is just that much more savage when it finally happens. If Kilgore hadn’t been …” He paused.

  “All of this is my fault? For performing my duty?”

  “No. I’m not saying that. You’re an excellent officer.”

  “Good grief, don’t patronize me!”

  “Listen! And understand! The Union is at stake in all of this. The Naati’s defeat will allow Her Majesty to consolidate her power and send a warning, to any being, of our strength and resolve. We can be a part of that.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The Destillières line is failing, Joshua! They have succumbed to degeneracy and weakness. The last thirty years of Nicolas’ reign was a disaster; it’s a miracle we lived through it. Marie ascended the Throne one of the weakest Consuls in history. The Destillières are a spent force, and Her Majesty realizes this. Another family must take up the reins.”

  Joshua couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re ambition is great. What are you going to do? Marry Her Majesty?” He emitted a bark of laughter.

  “No, Joshua. You are.”

  Joshua was speechless.

  “We can become the greatest power in the Galaxy,” Robert continued. “Jules Xavier Destillières foresaw how the Snirr Wars would change Human society, and pulled order out of chaos. This is what I have done. Yes, I have committed crimes, but the rules of the old order must be broken to make way for the new. This is the way it has always been.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “Look. Let’s meet and discuss …”

  Joshua cut the link. Despite his misgivings, it was tempting. Oh, so tempting. In such a position, he could give Pederson what he really deserved. However, that was it; he was already scheming to use influence he did not yet have to get revenge.

  Such is the nature of power.

  Cortez

  So sweet.

  With the first attack, Cortez had taken out the Naati battlecarrier and damaged the heavy cruiser. By the time his strike force had rounded Borrega and rendezvoused with the fleet, the Togo OG had finished off the Naati; only two Wolf class cruisers escaped. The Battle Fleet itself had sustained light damage and no losses.

  Fleet Admiral Gao ordered the Tethys Operational Group to an orbit of 10,000 kilometers, to watch over the landing of the Assault Fleet under cover of electronic counter measures. That fleet had then jumped to Borrega’s hyperspace limit, and an hour later entered low orbit. Cortez listened to the comms chatter as the assault carriers dropped their Marines on target, the other ships of the assault fleet pounding key defensive positions with orbital bombardment. After a few more orbits over the narrow sea between the continents, the military transports would enter the atmosphere and land the three Army Groups at their assigned positions.

  The assault was supposed to be much less violent, but the Naati and Borregans had escalated matters with their assassination of the Ambassador, or so intelligence had reported.

  So much the better.

  Cortez had heard nothing about the Montcalm. He filed his report with command and forgot about the whole thing. He didn’t even bother to reprimand his executive officer. Once she realized there would be no repercussions, she would fall into line.

  The Support Fleet had jumped to Borrega from the outer system to assist the damaged vessels of the Ambassador’s Fleet, currently at an orbit of fifteen thousand kilometers. The three other operational groups flew under ECM at Borrega’s hyperspace limit, equidistant from each other at a distance of one hundred five thousand kilometers. They used passive sensors to detect any incoming vessels. From these positions, the Battle Fleet could intercept any incoming fleet shunting out of hyperspace and making a run for Borrega.

  Matthias

  They killed the ambassador.

  The news shocked the men and women of the 3rd Ranger Division. Though command had stressed responsibility had yet to be determined, everyone agreed it was the Naati and their Borregan lackeys.

  This changes things.

  “Division says it’ll be a slam dunk,” Benny said. He sat with his back against the tracks of the MA-2260 Anti-Infantry Vehicle and cleaned his pistol.

  “They always say that, Benny.” Matthias stood and stretched. Scores of anti-infantry vehicles filled the cargo bay of the Cheval 116, a military transport. The vehicle crews milled about, talking in quiet voices. The 3rd Ranger Division, with one hundred and eight armored vehicles and over forty-six hundred soldiers, was packed into four of the huge landing craft.

  An alarm sounded and red lights filled the deck. “All personnel to stations,” General Yarek barked over the intercom. Matthias climbed on top of the vehicle and entered through the hatch. He put on his headset and booted up the vehicle’s systems, then checked his body armor and firearms, a short-barreled blaster rifle mounted at his right, and a blaster pistol in a holster on his waist. “Everybody in?”

  “Check!” Benny said.

  “I’m good,” Dom, the turret operator, said.

  “I’m in,” said Maggie. Matthias saw the power meter on his console fluctuate as she charged the lasers.

  “Here,” Serene said. “Some of the other vehicles are short on grenades, but we’ve got a full load.”

  “Good.” He tapped a few keys on his console to link up with the other two vehicles in his platoon. He almost called out Sergeant Krupp’s name, but remembered that his old buddy was dead, killed by the lopers on Vanyirvon. “Denny? Ballas?”

  “Fired up, Matty,” Sergeant Denola said.

  “All systems operating,” Sergeant Ballas replied. Command had just assigned him to the platoon a few days before.

  “All right. I’m gonna patch in with Lieutenant Po.” He established a communications link with an APC in another transport. “We’re fired up, Lieutenant.”

  “All right, Matty. Standby. Seems there’s been a change in orders.”

  They always do this.

  “Standby for Marshal Sumotoso,” a voice said over his headset.

  The big cheese.

  “To the men and women of the Borrega Pacification Force. Though we do it on occasion, it is the Marines’ job to fight the bug-eyed monsters. They’re helping us out on this one, and are currently securing our landing areas. Our duty is to the Human family; we keep Human worlds within the Union and bring our misinformed brothers and sisters into the light of reason. Only by sticking together are Humans able to survive in the face of possible annihilation. This is the lesson of the Snirr Wars! This is true freedom!”

  “Now, sometimes our confused brothers and sisters need a little convincing. They cling to quaint notions of individual freedom and expression, or their minds are saddled with ancient superstitions. But history tells us that these ideas, though beneficial at first, soon lead down the road of ruin to chaos! Some of our
ignorant brethren are willing to die for these ideas. Oblige them! Send them to their ancient gods! But is our duty to treat the masses with the respect accorded to them by virtue of their biology.”

  “I want to be clear! Though excessive violence is understandable, nay, even required, when fighting the spineys, split-lips, and boneheads, I will not tolerate the abuse of our brothers and sisters on Borrega, despite what happened to the Ambassador. There will be no thefts! There will be no mockery or verbal abuse! There will be no needless casualties or deaths! When this is over, we will engage in trade and friendly relations with these people. We will welcome them back into the Human family.”

  “However, the atrocity committed against the Union does demonstrate where our work is cut out for us. The original plan was for the Third Surface Group to land near the city of Razdun, the capital of the Resistance, on the southern continent. I am assigning most of the Third to support the First and Second in operations around the city of Basq on the northern continent. Likewise, I have ordered orbital elements to support First and Second Groups. Intelligence informs us the Resistance have laid down their arms, so I am ordering a single division to secure Razdun and make contact.”

  Here it comes.

  “General Yarek and the men and women of the 3rd Ranger Division will have that honor, with the assistance of the 87th Marine Battalion, which are now securing a landing zone.”

  “What?” Benny cried. “We’re not gonna see any action?”

  “Shut up, Benny.”

  “…professionalism and skill will see this done,” the Marshal continued. “Long live the Consul!”

  The four doors on either side of the cargo hold lowered to become ramps, and the anti-infantry vehicles began to roll out. When Matthias and his crew emerged in their AIV, they saw a flat coastal plain with mountains looming above. The setting primary star cast a golden light on the highlands, and the sky was purple. The vehicles drove onto flat marshy ground adjacent to an expansive concrete pad with several buildings and hangars on the far side. Beyond the airport, a city hugged the base of a high and rocky spur. Matthias sat in the command cupola with the cover open; he felt the blast of warm and humid air, and smelled the nearby ocean.

  His console beeped as the new tactical maps finished downloading. Green dots on the map noted the positions of the Marines of the 87th; they had set up a perimeter around the landing zone.

  “Let’s link up,” Captain Cerny said over the commlink. “Can you see my position?”

  “Gotchya,” Matthias replied, and hit a button to transfer the coordinates to Benny’s console.

  The Cheval 116 transport had set down a hundred meters from the airport, all transports landing end-to-end. The ships were rectangular slabs, almost five hundred meters long and standing over fifty meters in height. Each rested on eight massive extendable pylons. Blaster and laser cannon lined the sides of the vessels to cover any exiting vehicles or troops, but on this drop, they remained silent. However, powerful floodlights mounted on the ships illuminated the landing zone.

  Matthias turned on the vehicle’s lights in the deepening gloom. “No welcoming committee?”

  “Seems not,” Cerny replied. “The Marines took the LZ without any problem, and they say the city is quiet.”

  Weird.

  Matthias directed Benny to pull up beside four armored personnel carriers. Denola’s and Ballas’ vehicles rolled up with a platoon of three more AIVs. The two platoons of vehicles and two platoons of infantry composed Echo Company, 22nd Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.

  “Our current orders are to wait for everyone to assemble,” Cerny said. “Once complete, Echo Company is to spearhead the move into the city.”

  Matthias heard an explosion. He turned and saw a plume of smoke rise from the gathering vehicles.

  “Mortar fire,” Cerny said. “Hold.”

  Matthias caught a flash out of the corner of his eye, and a second later, he heard the sound of the explosion and saw the plume of smoke. He saw Marines in their battlesuits leap and fly toward the mountains.

  “No damage reported,” Cerny said. “Weak explosives.”

  A third round landed, and then a fourth, fifth and sixth. Matthias saw one land on a ramp of each transport. A gray haze settled over the vehicles.

  “What the fuck is that reek?” Benny said.

  “Button up,” Matthias said as he closed the cupola cover and turned on the environment controls. He heard the sound of blaster fire in his headphones. “Who’s firing?”

  He heard more blaster fire. “What the hell is going on, Captain?” He rotated his cupola and scanned the area with the vehicle’s sensors. All of the vehicles had buttoned up for fear of a gas attack. He saw what looked like shadows flitting between the vehicles. “You seein’ these things, Captain?”

  “Yes, Sergeant. I don’t know … just a moment. Listen to this.” She patched Matthias into her radio feed.

  “…damn it, what the hell are those things!?” Matthias heard screams, cursing and blaster fire. “Infantry company commanders? Return to your transports and engage these … things!”

  “The AIV platoons will remain here,” Cerny said. Matthias saw the four APCs lurch into motion, turn, and drive back toward the Cheval 116. He saw hundreds of other APCs returning to their transports.

  Bright flashes illuminated the mountains, and Matthias saw the battlesuited Marines leap, fire lasers, and launch bombs. Explosions rocked the assembled vehicles.

  “What the fuck is going on now?” Benny cried.

  Part V: Ghosts of Wars Long Past

  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

  Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

  Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

  Cortez

  So, Finny’s old man is running the show. He’ll be even more of an insufferable prick.

  It looked to Cortez the elder McFinn wouldn’t have it too tough. The Borrega Test was unfolding according to plan. From the comms chatter it seemed there was unexpected violence near the southern landing site. As for the northern continent, the Army was running into heavy resistance, but was taking care of business against an enemy with much more primitive technology. It was only a matter of time.

  “Hypershunts detected,” Cisoto said. “Two three five mark one eight, range of ninety thousand klicks.”

  “The engineers are here already?”

  “I don’t think it’s the engineers.”

  Cortez looked up from his tablet at the sitrep table.

  “Getting a feed from the Selaphial. Seventy-nine hypershunts. The Selaphial is scanning.” She paused. “Ten Bellicose class, nine Orca class heavy cruisers, thirty Wolf class cruisers, ten Legion class assault transports, and twenty Camel class transports.” A tactical diagram appeared above the sitrep table, showing the three operational groups at Borrega’s hyperspace limit, the Tethys OG in a ten thousand kilometer orbit, and the new fleet at thirty thousand kilometers ahead of the Selaphial Operational group. “Powerful active scan from the Naati ships. Our dampening field is holding.” Cisoto’s fingers trembled as she tapped the keys on the sitrep table.

  “Admiral Idowu is hailing us,” the comms officer said.

  “To all commanding officers of the Tethys OG. We will maintain position until we receive further orders from Admiral Gao.”

  “Those transports probably contain troops; they want to land.” Cortez watched as the Naati fleet flew a course to enter orbit.

  “At their velocity they’ll be on top of us in about an hour,” Cisoto said. She looked at him, her brown eyes wide with fear.

  “They’re not trying to use ECM to hide their position,” Cortez said. “It’s probably a feint, but we have no choice.”

  Admiral Idowu’s voice sounded over the comms. “To the Tethys OG. We are to engage the Naati fleet. Maintain spherical formation at all times. The Selaphial OG will hit them from the flank at the same time.”

  Here we go! Cortez figured this had been too easy. The num
ber of Naati ships in that fleet matched the entire Battle Fleet, and the Union was heavily outclassed.

  Many people are going to die today.

  McFinn

  Is it the Tolkists? Or the Reactionaries?

  McFinn sat at the main comms console on the Crius’ command deck. Damage control teams had finally repaired the comms and sensors, with some help from the Task Force’s support fleet, but not much else worked.

  “Still no response?” Tors asked.

  “None. They’re not even jamming us; they’re just not answering.” McFinn stood and stepped to the sitrep table. “The Task Force has its hands full.” He watched as the Tethys OG engaged the Naati fleet head on. A few moments later, the leading elements of the Selaphial OG hit the Naati’s flanks. McFinn felt powerless just standing there and watching.

  “The Urial OG has detected hypershunts,” the executive officer said. “Zero zero eight mark oh five, range of thirty five thousand klicks from their position. They’re scanning.” A new fleet appeared on the tactical diagram above the sitrep table, exactly opposite the location of the first Naati fleet.

  Another one? The computer counted the images as they appeared: thirteen Bellicose class; nine Orca class; thirty Wolf class; eleven Legion class; eight Sojourner scientific vessels; and twenty Camel class transports. Bigger than the other fleet.

  “The Naati have split up the Battle Fleet,” Tors said. “They’re going to land on the surface.”

  “Which faction is it?”

  Tors didn’t answer.

  Noga said the Reactionaries were already on Borrega, digging. Did they find something? “It’s the Reactionaries. They want to recover whatever they’ve found on the surface.”

  “Getting a sensor feed from the Selene OG,” the executive officer said. “They’ve detected hypershunts. One eight three mark one five, range of twenty-five thousand klicks from their position.”