The Price of Liberty (Empire Rising Book 4)

by D. J. Holmes

  After being shown around and setting up his tent, Johnston went and found Maguire. Together they waited on the edge of the camp to greet the rest of the resistance as they came in. Over the next three hours a further four teams arrived. By evening, Johnston’s force numbered one hundred and thirty-six fighters. After the evening meal, Johnston called a council of war and invited each of the leaders and their second in command to meet with him to discuss the next day’s operation.

  Once everyone was settled, Johnston turned on the portable holo projector he had brought with him. “This is what we’re going after,” he said to the resistance leaders as he played the video he had prepared for them.

  The images were from the Haven Defense Forces’ attempt to intercept the first wave of Indian landing shuttles. Johnston had managed to obtain the recordings and sent them back to Earth as part of his intelligence package. As the leaders watched, the visual showed a wing of Haven Defense Force fighters attempt to attack a group of shuttles and destroy them before they landed their troops on Haven. Suddenly, a large group of Indian Hal Tejas swooped out of the clouds above the Haven fighters and launched a spread of missiles followed by a hail of plasma bolts. Within seconds, more than half of the Haven force had been destroyed and the rest scattered under the withering fire.

  Once the visuals were complete, the holo projector automatically switched itself off. “As you can see,” Johnston began, “these fighters are effective. The Indians call them Hal Tejas, they are designed for atmospheric and space flight. They can fulfill an air superiority role, as you just observed, with great effectiveness. But their main purpose is to lurk on the outer edge of a planet’s atmosphere in stealth awaiting an invasion force. As enemy landing craft pass through the planet’s atmosphere, the Hal Tejas power up and swoop on any landing shuttles and quickly take them out, just as they to those Haven fighters that tried to intercept the Indian shuttles.

  “I don’t have any more recent Intel from my government, nor the British Admiralty, but if I had to guess, I think the fleet, along with an invasion army designed to drive the Indians from your planet should arrive in the next few months. However, the British fleet doesn’t have anything that can compete with the Hal Tejas. If they try to force a landing with Hal Tejas opposing them, it could turn into a bloodbath. Thankfully, we know where the Hal Tejas are operating from. They were flying out of the Indian warships in orbit, but they’ve been moved to Haven’s surface. I suspect the Indians fear a British fleet may drive away their ships and they have gone to great efforts to provide the Hal Tejas with a ground base. That way, if the Indian fleet is driven off, they will still be able to operate and oppose any landing the British fleet may attempt. A month ago scouts located their base, now we are ready to hit it, that’s why I have gathered you. If we can pull this off, this will be the greatest victory the resistance has yet won.”

  Satisfied he had piqued the resistance leaders’ interests, Johnston explained his plan of attack. The leaders and their men had gathered without being told their objective and they had a lot of questions as they tried to take in the plan for the first time. As Johnston listened and answered the questions he couldn’t help but smile. The resistance leaders were clearly excited, they wanted to make a few tweaks to his tactics, but they were all on board. Good, Johnston thought. It’s time we repaid the Indians for the attack on our cave hideout. The various resistance groups had been very quiet over the last month as they had been reeling from the attack on their main base. The Indians must have begun to think that they had struck a decisive blow. They were about to learn otherwise.

  Chapter 22 – The Facility

  One would think that in the inter-species wars that have dominated our recent history collaboration would have become a thing of the past. When we fought each other it was understandable. Yet to work against your own species, surly that is unthinkable? Sadly, finding out we are not alone in the galaxy didn’t change human nature.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

  19th August 2467 AD, Haven.

  As Jonas Maguire surveyed the scene in front of him, he ground his teeth in anger. He was over thirty meters up one of Haven’s massive trees as he looked over a small clearing in the thick Haven forest. Where once hundreds of Haven trees had grown, there was now a large collection of mining and mineral extraction equipment. Indian soldiers and military engineers were overseeing the excavation of a deep cavern. According to Major Johnston, it was over two hundred meters deep underneath the forest floor.

  The Hal Tejas were able to take off and land vertically, so once the mining equipment was removed, the only sign of the base being constructed deep beneath his feet would be the small opening in the middle of the clearing he was looking at. By his eye it measured no more than twenty meters by twenty meters and would be hard to spot from space. Luckily Johnston’s scouts had stumbled across the operation before it was finished. The entire area was swarming with men and machines who were extracting more and more material from the hole as construction continued on the base far below.

  What had Maguire so angry wasn’t the Indian soldiers, nor the mining equipment they had stolen from Haven construction companies. It was the hundreds of Havenite citizens who were cooperating with the Indians and appeared to be working as hard as they could to get the military base completed as soon as possible. Perhaps the Indians had taken their families hostage, or found some other kind of leverage to force them to work. Even so, Maguire thought, they made their choice, they are collaborators now and have forfeited the right to any mercy.

  Moments later, a series of whistles spread through the trees as they were taken up and repeated by Havenite fighters positioned along the edge of the clearing. Recognizing the whistle as confirmation the final squad was in place, Maguire carefully lifted his gauss cannon and sighted it on the head of a nearby Indian soldier. Letting out half his breath, he paused before squeezing the trigger. The force of the round leaving his gauss cannon bucked the weapon back into his shoulder. Before he had absorbed all of the recoil, the round had traversed the one hundred meters to his target and slammed into the Indian soldier. Indian combat armor was unbelievably strong and the gauss cannon round failed to penetrate it, yet, the force of the impact was enough to stun the soldier and the combat armor crumpled to the floor.

  All around the forest, the one hundred resistance fighters who were strategically positioned took Maguire’s shot as the signal to open fire. Within seconds, hundreds of gauss cannon rounds were raining down on the Indian soldiers, military engineers and Havenite civilians. By the time Maguire had fired his fourth shot, the Indian soldiers appeared to be getting over their initial shock. Most of those who had survived the first wave of gauss cannon rounds took cover and returned fire. Their plasma cannons were far better suited to medium and long range engagements and hundreds of plasma bolts burnt through the thick Havenite forest, taking out resistance fighters.

  The resistance fighters continued to send a wave of gauss cannon rounds into the clearing. At Maguire’s command, the first wave of resistance fighters advanced, charging towards the mining equipment for cover. From somewhere underground, a deep booming siren began to reverberate out of the opening and echo around the forest. Good, Maguire thought with a smile, everyone should know we’re here by now.

  As the wave of Havenite fighters reached the mining equipment, their fire forced what was left of the Indian forces back towards the large opening in the ground. Confident their attack was going to plan, Maguire ordered the second wave of fighters forward. The fighting intensified as both waves of Havenite fighters slowly moved through the mining equipment, pressing the Indians further back towards the opening leading to the Indian base.

  Even though he was expecting it, when one of the larger excavation tractors exploded, Maguire flinched. Several more explosions rang out in quick succession. A number of his men had been sent forward with explosives. As the resistance fighters pushed the Indians back, they were detonating any piece of mi
ning equipment not being used as cover.

  As a large platform ascended up out of the hole in the clearing Maguire knew their attack was about to falter. On the platform, over fifty Indian soldiers in combat armor shot at his forces once they came into view. Even before the platform halted, they jumped off it and charged towards their comrades to aid in the base’s defense.

  The fighting ground to a standstill as the Indian reinforcements halted the advance of the Havenite fighters. Then, the more accurate Indian fire began to tell. Slowly at first, and then with greater speed, the Indians advanced, pushing the Havenite fighters back towards the tree line. Several more explosions rang out amidst the fighting as more mining equipment was destroyed. However, the men sent forward with the explosive charges were soon forced to worry more about their own safety than planting charges.

  Two minutes after the first wave of Indian reinforcements arrived, the large platform reappeared. Another fifty Indian soldiers in combat armor jumped off it and moved to join the fighting. Maguire lifted his hands to his mouth and shouted the command to fall back.

  The call to fall back was taken up and repeated as other Havenite fighters echoed Maguire’s command. At first, the Havenite fighters began an orderly retreat, moving carefully between the mining equipment, stopping occasionally to fire back at the Indian soldiers. However, the Indian soldiers sensing they were getting the upper hand, moved to take advantage. Rising from their cover, they charged the Havenite fighters. In seconds the Havenite retreat turned into a rout as those who were still alive turned and fled, desperate to get back to the tree line.

  Maguire waited until he saw the platform appear once again before he turned and grabbed the zipline he had set up before the attack. Jumping off the branch he had been watching the battle from, he descended to the forest floor. Without looking back, he sprinted deeper into the forest and jumped over a makeshift barrier his men had set up. Anticipating his forces would be quickly routed, he had copied a tactic he had seen Johnston use in the past. Having held back a reserve force from the main engagement, they had set up a firing line deeper in the forest. As the Havenite fighters who had survived the attack fled through the forest, they hurdled the defensive line and ran for their lives.

  Not expecting to find any more organized resistance, the first wave of Indian soldiers fell to a hail of fire from Maguire and his reserve force. Those behind the first wave ground to a halt and dived for cover. “Fall back,” Maguire shouted to his men. “Regroup at the rendezvous points.”

  After issuing his last command, Maguire stood and sprinted into the forest, not bothering to look back to see what the Indians were doing. He had no doubt they would attempt to pursue the Havenite fighters to capture and kill as many of them as they could. Five rendezvous points had been set up and as the Havenite fighters raced deeper into the forest they split up as each made their way to their allotted destination. Well, Maguire thought to Major Johnston, you have your diversionary attack. You better get the job done.

  *

  Two kilometers south of where Maguire and his men were fighting for their lives, Johnston, his special forces marines and twenty Havenite fighters were crouched behind a number of large boulders. As the siren boomed out of the cave in front of them, they took it as the sign they had been waiting for. They rose to their feet and charged towards the cave’s opening.

  The cave was where Johnston’s scouts had first come across evidence of the Indian base. They had been looking for a new site for the Haven resistance base. However, as they had ventured up the cave they came across signs that someone else occupied it. Retreating back down the cave entrance they had waited and watched. To their shock, instead of a group of Indian soldiers or engineers, the first sign of whoever was occupying the cave had been when a Hal Tejas fighter burst out of the cave and rapidly accelerated into the atmosphere. After figuring out what the Indians were using the cave for, the scouts had surveyed the area and located the clearing and the second opening the Indian engineers were working on.

  From the scout’s report, Johnston had guessed that the Indians had already enlarged the cave to house a number of their fighters. He reckoned the second opening would provide a second egress point, so the Indians could house all their fighters in the base and sortie them in the event of a British attack.

  As they raced down the cave, the special forces marines broke out in front. They were holding themselves back to allow the Havenites to keep up, but in their eagerness they began to pull away. Whilst his focus was firmly fixed on the distant light growing ever larger, Johnston couldn’t help but notice the signs of human activity on the cave walls. The cave was just too perfect of a circle, it had clearly been widened to allow the Indian fighters to sortie out of the cave.

  Johnston and his marines burst out of the cave into a large well-lit cavern. For almost as far as the eye could see, the cavern stretched into the distance. Immediately in front of them, row upon row of Hal Tejas fighters sat ready for action. Around the entrance to the cavern were several Indian soldiers in combat armor milling around. Before any of them knew what was happening, the Marines had trained their plasma rifles on them and dispatched them. As the sound of their heavy metal armor banging on the metallic floor echoed around the cavern, a number of startled technicians looked up from the fighter they had been servicing.

  Johnston advanced on them menacingly and ordered them to raise their hands and surrender. However, a burst of gauss cannon fire knocked more than half of the technicians down. The rest turned and fled. Johnston cursed the Havenites’ bloodlust, then raised his plasma rifle and took out the two remaining technicians. He couldn’t have anyone getting away to raise the alarm.

  He turned to face the Havenite fighters who were desperately trying to catch their breath, he wanted to shout at them for killing unarmed combatants but he knew it was useless. To the Havenites, every Indian who stepped foot on the planet was an enemy to kill.

  “Spread out,” he ordered. “Start planting charges on these fighters, we won’t have long before they start sending troops this way.”

  Leaving the Havenite fighters to plant the charges, Johnston motioned for his marines to follow him. Breaking into a full sprint, he headed down the cavern in the direction the technicians had tried to flee. They had known where the nearest exit out of the cavern and deeper into the Indian base was. As he rounded one of the last fighters, a large opening sealed by a blast door came into sight. About forty meters above the door, protruding into the cavern, was a massive glass cylinder. As Johnston broke out from behind one of the fighters he skidded to a halt and looked up at it. Sitting behind a number of computer terminals were more than twenty Indian technicians. As Johnston looked up at them, a number of them looked down at him in shock.

  “Damn,” he shouted as he realized their cover was blown.

  As a hive of activity erupted within the glass control room, Johnston raised his plasma rifle and poured fire up towards the technicians. At the same time, he charged the blast door. Just as he expected, it descended as someone in the control room gave the order to close it.

  Following his lead, the other marines poured fire into the control room. The plasma bolts burnt through the reinforced glass and peppered the technicians. With the sudden realization their lives were in jeopardy, the technicians scattered. Satisfied they couldn’t do anything more to hamper his men, Johnston stopped firing and threw himself to his knees as he skidded the last few meters under the closing blast door.

  He looked around to see two of his marines had made it under the blast door with him. “Briar, stay here and open the door so we can get out. Fisher, you’re with me. We’re going to plant charges in the control room. I want it destroyed to prevent the Indians from using this space for a while, even if they bring in more fighters,” he shouted.

  Charging forward with Fisher at his side, Johnston came to a T-junction. He saw no sign of life so he continued down the right-hand corridor; there was a set of stairs less than twenty mete
rs down the passageway. As he neared the end of the passageway, several technicians came into view frantically descending the stairs. Looking up, one of them saw the two British marines charging towards them and shrieked in fear. The others froze, acutely aware there was no way they could outrun their attackers.

  “Hands above your head,” Johnston shouted, glad there were no Havenites with him. “Do as I say and you won’t be hurt.”

  The technicians raised their hands. Efficiently and methodically, Johnston and Fisher went from technician to technician, binding their hands together and latching them onto the stair railing.

  “Don’t go anywhere now,” Johnston couldn’t help saying with a chuckle as he and Fisher left the technicians and headed up the stairs. When they got to the top, they were met with another blast door that hadn’t been closed, beyond it was the control room. Reaching into his backpack, Johnston removed a number of charges. Tossing a couple to Fisher, he attached them to the various control terminals.

  Once he was done, he stood and looked through the broken glass onto the hangar floor. It looked like the Havenite soldiers were planting the last charges on the Hal Tejas fighters. Doing a quick count, he reckoned there were over twenty fighters in the hangar. He knew there were more fighters somewhere, possibly still based on a ship in space. Twenty will have to do, he thought. It is certainly going to make a dent in their defenses. Someone is going to be pissed.