by JR Handley
Knowing there was work to do, Lance had Xena amplify his voice so he could be heard by the entire task force.
“You’ll get the rundown from your chain of command about the new enemy threat in just a moment. It’ll make you mad, and it should. It pissed me off, too, but we still need this outpost secure. We need the maglev up and running. Channel your emotions, because we’re already behind schedule. We’re moving out in five minutes. Make ready.”
— Chapter 26 —
Mid Evening, Post-Revival Day 210
Outside Outpost Charlie 2, Cardamine Island
Commander, 5th TAC RGT, TF Retribution, Human Legion
They’d reached as far into the tunnels as Colonel Alger Messer dared to go before reinforcements arrived. He couldn’t risk renewed contact with the enemy, not when they didn’t know their disposition or their numbers. Further, intentionally reinitiating contact with the enemy would be in direct conflict with his existing orders. With nothing more they could do, Messer began reviewing the information from his AI. He wanted the status of the sole surviving Sangurian. Somehow, saving one from the two regiments who’d died in the tunnel seemed important and symbolic. He needed it. They all need that furry bastard to live.
As the operation wound itself down, Messer waited for the fresh Marines. They would be landing at any minute. After checking the interface again, he knew the Storks were close. Once the rain had stopped an hour ago, the LBNet began working. He knew they weren’t linked, but the coincidence seemed important to his emotionally fragile state. With the renewed access to information, he took the chance to contact his superiors. He’d be turning command over to Field Marshal Marchewka, who was coming over from Task Force Vengeance. He knew they couldn’t bring all three field marshals over, so he’d been expecting things to play out the way they did.
He was interrupted from his musings by his AI alerting him that the Stork shuttles were landing. Messer was shocked by the beauty of several flights of Stork shuttles landing, disembarking Marines. Their reinforcements began flowing out of the shuttle like an army of ants off some long-dead carcass. In under fifteen minutes, the last Marine stepped off the shuttle and joined Messer’s troops. They’d taken the places Messer had assigned them on the defensive perimeter, which he’d pre-approved with Marchewka.
Once the last Marine had his boots on the ground, the wounded Sangurian was loaded for the trip to Akoni City’s infirmary. At the same time, a confident Jotun officer exited the shuttle and strode toward him. The officer walked upright, with his two additional appendages on each flank, and looked extremely intimidating in the ceramic-and-metallic composite armor which had been custom-built for his physique. As he got closer, Messer saw that the armor was dented and pitted from many years of hard use. Messer knew this to be his commander and snapped to attention.
Marchewka continued straight for Messer until he was within a few feet. Stopping, he snapped a crisp salute and then dropped it, allowing Messer to drop his.
“While landing, I saw that you went ahead and cleared the tunnel. Since your AI gave mine its data packet, I’m aware of your line of reasoning. Given that relief took a while in coming, I commend your initiative. With our delays, we don’t have time to dally. I’ve sent all the commanders a mission brief. We move out in ten minutes,” ordered Marchewka in the metallic voice that came out of his voice box.
Messer acknowledged his new orders and instantly lost himself in the data that digitally popped onto the inner screen of his helmet. Once he understood the plan, he forwarded it to his subordinate commanders and ordered them to start the PCIs, pre-combat inspections. At the prospect of renewed hostilities against the insurgent bastards who’d killed two regiments of Human Legion allies, the exhaustion left him. Messer felt invigorated.
— Chapter 27 —
Late Evening, Post-Revival Day 210
Unknown Facility, Cardamine Island
Commander, TF Justice, Human Legion
Onward they charged, desperate to encounter more enemies. They wanted vengeance after the cowardly murder of so many. Field Marshal Nhlappo pushed on, heedless of her Marines’ exhaustion. The farther they pushed, the darker and more spartan the structure became. The stone walls became more natural-looking as they reached the end of the Akoni-style architecture. There were no more shelves of synth-wood, or delicate carvings or reliefs on the walls. It all started to appear more like the White Knight facilities where she’d been raised. When they finally emerged down a ramp onto the sixth such level, they spotted an enemy fortification. It was nestled at the end of the long passageway where the task force would exit.
Remembering the suicidal bomber traps, Nhlappo stopped short and ordered her forces to halt. Pulling back around the corner for protection, she dispatched combat drones. The space was a warren of passageways around small, reinforced chambers. It reminded her of the research facility in Akoni City. That’s it – this is a classified research station. Trying not to get too excited, she focused on the tactical situation. There were rows of narrow passageways around a vast central corridor. This will be a nightmare to capture, she thought.
As it flew overhead, she could see what the drone saw, allowing Nhlappo to create a better plan. The drone was also tasked with searching for the chemical signatures of all known explosives, an update after the earlier episodes. She hoped, at a minimum, she’d be able to prevent another disaster. Thankfully, Brinx promptly gave her an update.
A cursory scan finds the probability of a similar subversive explosive attack to be at only point-seven percent, given the current data. A full run through my probability matrix indicates standard attack patterns would be successful.
Deciding to let her AI filter the information for her so she could get her Marines into action sooner, she asked Brinx follow-on questions.
“Check the drone’s recon data. Is there any chance of a flanking maneuver?”
Negative, replied Brinx. The outer sections are too narrow for a large force. The center corridor is a natural chokepoint, and the only practical way to engage them is through their fatal funnel.
“Estimates of enemy troop levels?” Nhlappo asked.
Estimated troop levels at the standard company level, replied the AI, but you’ll only be able to send a squad-sized front down the passageway.
With the information in hand, Nhlappo quickly formulated a plan and began issuing orders to her surviving regimental commanders over the LBNet.
“Listen up. The enemy is entrenched behind hastily constructed barricades. The only way to assault them is straight up the middle, right into the fatal funnel. They are approximately at company strength, and we can only assault with a squad front.”
As the commanders reviewed the videos, she continued, “Given those limitations, and the need to push swiftly through to secure the facility, here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll send a tiered staggered front, with Dragoniers abreast and Minis firing between them. We won’t have a full squad front with those spacings, but we should be able to clear the barricade that way.”
The thought of a frontal assault caused a murmur of protest from the commanders, and Nhlappo responded harshly.
“If you want to whine, I believe I can find you some Aux pens to crawl into. Now, let me continue. The third row of the initial assault will be our grenadiers, who will alternate their fire between incendiary and EMP munitions. Meanwhile, we’ll send troops along the narrow passageways to flank them. They’ll expect that, too, but limited numbers mean they can’t be in all places at once. We do not want to destroy this building. It’s some sort of research facility. Finally, they appear to have forgotten to look up. There is room on the roofs of the various research compartments. We send our best marksmen up there, and we start picking them off. Nullify the advantage of their chokepoint.”
Nhlappo paused for effect and then continued.
“However, this strategy only works if our Marines assault quickly. I’ll fall in with the grenadiers, and the regimental comma
nders will command the various flanking maneuvers to assume command if my plan goes to shit. No use sitting around worrying, so move out!”
“All due respect, but you’re not going in without your security detachment,” said her sergeant major.
She reluctantly agreed, and when her troops were in position around her, she gave the signal. Nhlappo followed the Marines who began pouring down the passageway, while the flanking elements went for the smaller side corridors and used their assault thrusters to jump to the roofs. She saw the spiking heat signatures around her from the Dragoniers, who were spewing fiery death from their nozzles. At the same time, the Minis were spitting sabot fire to keep the enemy’s head down. Maybe they’ll be dumb enough to stand tall, she thought, so we can roast those frakkers.
They were getting closer and closer to the enemy and had only received minimal return fire from them. They’d taken minimal losses, much fewer than she had anticipated. Nhlappo was surprised; she’d expected more from the enemy. Any force dedicated enough to explode themselves should’ve put up a better fight, she thought. As she pushed forward with her assault force, she kept hearing an annoying buzz in her ear.
Finally, her focus was broken by her AI blaring through her internal helmet speakers.
Damn it, Tirunesh, Brinx roared over her intense focus on the world around her. Read the reports I’ve been sending you. The enemy has stopped returning fire, they’ve stopped moving, and you need to approach the situation with caution. Halt your assault.
Deciding to trust her longtime companion, Nhlappo ordered her Marines to halt just three meters from the enemy’s crumbling barricades. Not wanting to risk her troops, she decided to send her drones forward to investigate the situation. When they reached the obstacle, she saw that the insurgents were immobile. She tried addressing the frakkers through the small drone speakers but received no response.
Not wanting to waste time, she radioed one of the carbineers behind her to provide her some overwatch before she advanced with her security detachment. They protested, but she overrode their decision and ordered them to follow her. Nhlappo leaped over the barricade and landed on the other side, accidentally bumping into the nearest enemy. There was no reaction from the enemy. Trusting her gut, she knew something was off. She began scanning around and saw that all the enemy insurgents seemed frozen, locked in place. Nhlappo decided it was time that she became bold, or she’d never get any answers.
Grabbing her dagger, the one her mother had given her when she left the crèche for the novice barracks, she tapped the faceplate of the frozen Marine next to her. Again, no response. She decided to become even bolder and pried open the helmet to find the suit vacant. How is this even possible? she wondered. Radioing in what she was seeing, and sending the visual feed to her commanders, she moved on. When she got to the next combat suit, she again pried open the helmet visor only to find it empty, too. She reached the fifth empty suit and called her Marines to join her while she checked one last suit.
After she pried open the visor, Nhlappo let out a surprised gasp as she saw the dead body of Ward Belford, the Spec Ops colonel they’d sent to investigate Kalino City. Turning to her Marines, she sent an urgent message.
“I want these suits quarantined, and under no circumstances are you to connect with them.”
While a small detachment of her Marines was tasked with securing the site, the rest of Task Force Justice pushed forward without incident. They quickly secured the rest of the facility and were standing by for further orders before utilizing the captured maglev lines to obtain the secondary objectives. The wait was chaffing for Nhlappo, who was eager to achieve the primary objective. Until the island was secured and Kalino City was in the hands of the Human Legion, she knew putting down Spartika’s mutiny would have to wait. Nhlappo wasn’t heartless, however, and respected that Marchewka needed to resolve the issue of his mother. Until it was resolved, she knew that her battle with Spartika would be delayed.
— Chapter 28 —
Early Morning, Post-Revival Day 211
Outpost Charlie 2, Cardamine Island
Commander, TF Retribution, Human Legion
Despite the expected contact with the enemy after they’d wiped out two regiments of the universally feared Sangurian warriors, Task Force Retribution had no further contact with the enemy. Like every other task force, Marchewka’s lost communications inside the outpost. They regained their signal when the facility was captured and the outpost AI rebooted. They continued to cautiously push into the facility, using the schematics from the outpost on Serendine. They methodically captured it one level at a time.
It was a slow and tedious process, but they finally declared the structure secure in the wee hours of the next day. Once the facility was clear of hostile forces, Marchewka sent troops to reinitiate the outpost’s AI. Just under a minute after the reboot was initiated, the dormant base systems began waking up. Meanwhile, Marchewka took a full regiment of Marines down to the lowest level. He knew it was time to officially secure the maglev lines, both to protect their soft underbelly and to allow them to connect to their next objectives, the supply annex and ultimately Kalino City.
Once the outpost was officially secured and re-designated as Human Legion Outpost (HLO) Charlie 2, Marchewka ordered each regiment to set up a watch rotation and rest before the next phase of the operation. The isle of Cardamine.
— Chapter 29 —
Midmorning, Post-Revival Day 211
En Route to Next Objective, Cardamine Island
Commander, TF Justice, Human Legion
Sitting in the door of the shuttle with her helmet clamped to her hip, Field Marshal Nhlappo let the fresh air wash over her. They’d secured the strange library, which looked to be Makoni in design. They’d acquired a lot of data, though it would take days for their research technicians to comb through it for anything useful. The surprising turn of events had been the Human Marine Corps research facility nestled underneath the Makoni library. That had yielded the designs for a lot of unfinished research. She wasn’t sure of its value, but that would have to be something they dealt with once the island was secure.
The only positive note was the discovery that Spartika’s insurgents hadn’t been able to break into the system. It’d taken a call to Marchewka for his command-level access code to even start the process. His code had gotten them into the system’s menu, and only then were their AIs with the master code able to access the information. Luckily, she’d been able to get Tizer to walk her through backing up the data, in case it wiped itself. With the data protected, Nhlappo began focusing on the next objective. They had loaded onto the Storks heading to their next target, Outpost Charlie 3. She knew it wasn’t official Legion property yet, but at this point, she considered all of the abandoned Human Marine Corps assets her assets.
With all they’d accomplished, Nhlappo was exhausted, mentally and physically. She knew she couldn’t let that stop her, not if her son would ever get justice against the Aux who murdered him in all but name. Spartika hadn’t pulled the trigger, but she had abandoned him, running from the field like a coward. Abandoning your comrades in the heat of the battle will never be okay, Nhlappo thought.
Shaking her head, she started reviewing her battle plans for her part of the Cardamine campaign. Just focus on the next objective, she thought. She knew that she couldn’t forget the larger objective, but if she didn’t knuckle down and tunnel her vision, she was afraid she’d lose herself to her rage. From the moment she’d stepped onto the Stork shuttle, she’d been reliving the suicide bombing. She could feel the pressure wave, the flames rolling over her as she slipped into oblivion.
Skids down in fifteen mikes, said Brinx, her loyal AI.
Blowing out a calming breath, Nhlappo put her helmet back on and jumped back into her commander mode.
“All right, Marines, we land in fifteen minutes. I want all NCOs checking gear and reviewing the mission plan. The time for action is now. Nhlappo, out!”
The Marines of Task Force Justice roared in approval over the open LBNet before being cut off by Brinx. The minutes passed in a flurry of pre-disembarkation activity as last-minute checks were made and issues corrected. Nhlappo heard some of the network chatter as the offending Marines were promised all sorts of creative corrections for their sloppiness. The last corporal finished the checks on his Marines moments before skids down.
The term skids down was an old one whose origins Nhlappo never cared to trace, but standard procedure was to exit the craft from as high up as the situation allowed to save the valuable troop transport shuttles from being shot down. Often this meant the Marines jumped out of the fast-moving craft and hit the ground on a broad swath of territory, but the small nature of the drop zone indicated that the Stork shuttles had to go lower and slower when all three regiments of the task force disembarked.
Like all Marine officers – the good ones, anyway – Nhlappo was the first to touch down on the island. When her shuttle was only four hundred feet above the landing zone, she jumped, trusting the ACE-4 Combat Suit’s new thrusters to slow her descent enough to ensure a safe landing. Should’ve kept my old ACE-2s, she thought as she hit the ground with a thud. The new armor’s enhanced supports and combat thrusters made the armor capable of orbital entry, which revolutionized combat tactics. She knew that the suits were just touching the surface of their new capabilities, but there was no time to expand on that. Nhlappo knew they’d have to figure it out on the move.
Her landing sent a thin layer of dust and dirt into the air as she smoothly followed by dropping into a crouch. Holy frakk, the new armor didn’t break, she thought. It only took her seconds before she’d regained her balance and assumed her combat stance with her carbine at the ready. Scanning the area, she saw other groups of Marine NCOs landing, clearly not waiting for the range their old tactics dictated before exiting their shuttle.
