With Your Shield

by Chris Kennedy

  * * *

  Sansar had just finished getting dressed to start her day when she received the comm from Major Enkh.

  “Colonel, we have verified evidence of jamming. Sergeant Baker detected the same jamming pattern that was used against Lieutenant Nicolos’ squad. Likely, they think we haven’t broken it and don’t know we know they’re there.”

  “We can’t see through it though, right?” She frowned as she sat behind her desk and pulled up the intel data for herself on her slate.

  “No ma’am. We just know there’s something out there jamming. It hampers our detection a bit, but at least now we know it’s there. So far, we’ve detected four distinct sources. That’s the best we can do.”

  “I assume you’ve notified the squads out on patrol…” It wasn’t really a question, but she had to ask.

  “Yes, ma’am. Sergeant Baker is taking care of that now.” Enkh hesitated for a few seconds. “Ma’am…Spartan is out right now.”

  “Well, shit. Okay. Wait one.” She paused for a moment to consider their next course of action. With six pinplants, it didn’t take long. They could, of course, hunt down the sources. If they weren’t expecting to be seen, they would probably be easy prey…and she really didn’t want to lose troopers to an ambush. Even knowing they were there, a MAC round or a laser to the back could still kill you just as easily as if you didn’t.

  As she was thinking, she received a comm request from Major King and brought her into the conversation with Major Enkh. “Okay, now I have you both. Major King, I’m sure you’re up to speed, what are your thoughts?”

  “Ma’am, I’m not sure. Obviously, I don’t want my troopers ambushed, but them not knowing that we know they’re there is a considerable strategic advantage. I’m sure we’d have the element of surprise if we want to take them out. Maybe we could capture a few and try to interrogate them.”

  Sansar considered the proposal for a moment. “Maybe…but we have to assume it’s Besquith again. This isn’t the kind of edge they’d give away to any other race. Assuming that, Besquith aren’t exactly the type to give in to interrogation techniques, and unless we’ve made significant advances in xenobiology, we don’t have anything like a sodium pentothal for Besquith.”

  “We could suggest we’d let a Zuparti kill them?” Major Enkh offered.

  Sansar allowed herself a small laugh. “Amusing, but no, I doubt even that would work. Okay, we’re going to handle this our way. Anything we can kill now is one less gun shooting at us later. Major King…I was informed Spartan is out right now. His Hoplite is fully loaded, right?”

  “It’s carrying a bit less than his standard combat mech of course, since it’s a scout base, but yes, he can take care of himself in that thing. I did have a report of some power problems with it, though…”

  “Do you think we should call him in?”

  There was silence for a moment, then King answered. “Absolutely not. Let him get some back. He’ll pull back if his power levels get low.”

  “I agree. Okay, let’s quietly get everyone back into their CASPers. I know a patrol just finished, but whatever they need to do, I want everyone ready in case this turns south, and it’s more than Alpha Company can handle.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Okay, let’s finish the first circuit. I want to know if there are more than just four sources. I’ll let you coordinate the details of the attacks, you know your troopers.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

  She cut the channel and started putting on her armor, just in case.

  * * *

  Markus frowned when the message came out on the company channel. Suddenly he felt like he had a set of crosshairs painted on his CASPer, rather than the Spartan helm. Before he had much time to think, he had a comm request from Hazard, which he accepted.

  “Spartan…I know what you’re thinking, but this time the surprise is on them. Thanks to your work, we know where they are, and we know they’re jamming us. Obviously, you know we can’t break the jamming, but we can pinpoint where the jammers are. How are you armed?”

  “MAC and laser on my shoulders, and my blade. That’s it. Had to sacrifice weaponry for the extra sensor power.”

  “Okay, I want you to make your way back and let Irish’s squad do the heavy lifting. I don’t want that prototype blown out from under you.”

  Markus considered. He almost automatically replied, ‘Yes, sir,’ and did it…but Hazard was no longer his superior. Of course, he was sure Major King could easily make it an order, and Hazard did have more experience.

  “Will do. From here, looks like it might be best for the element of surprise if I wait until they’re about to move in, then jump over them. The canopy is thin enough I can easily break through and come down behind the Besquith.”

  “Sounds good, Spartan. Stay safe out there.”

  “Copy that.”

  Markus jumped back into Irish’s squadnet. “Okay, Irish. Once you have your assault plan, I’ll be jumping over you to land behind the Besquith, so try not to shoot me while I get clear…”

  “You got it, Spartan. Looks like we’ll be splitting to assault in about five minutes.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll jump on your call.”

  * * *

  Around the facility, troopers were running back to their CASPers. The possibility of incoming enemy forces was enough to keep them awake even though they’d just come off of patrol. In the command center, Redep, who seemed to be Terax’s second in command, approached Colonel Enkh.

  “What is happening?” Redep asked.

  Sansar glanced at him and then looked back at the Tri-V display of the layout of the base and exterior, tracking her troopers’ movements as they prepared to attack. The points of attack and the sources of the jamming were highlighted in red.

  “We’ve detected something out there that shouldn’t be there. They’re using a jamming system previously used by the Besquith, so we’re going to shoot first and ask questions later.”

  Redep jumped slightly when he heard the word ‘Besquith.’ “Besquith? Here?” He let out a loud high-pitched squeak and bared his sharp teeth. “I must go inform Terax!” He scampered out of the room, dropping to all fours to gain more speed.

  Sansar shook her head but kept her eyes on the display. The countdown clock hit two minutes and continued counting. When it hit zero, her troopers would assault the four positions that had been identified with hopefully overwhelming force. Since it would be obvious to even a fool that they were found out, they would also destroy the sensors that were keeping an eye on their perimeter. She started pacing, but her eyes never left the display.

  * * *

  As the countdown timer hit zero, many things happened at once. Along the east side of the base, Irish’s squad executed their attack. Their route was timed so they would be exactly in between the two attack points. One fire team triggered their jumpjets and moved northeast; the other jumped southeast, and Markus jumped straight between the groups.

  It couldn’t have gone better if they had practiced it. Irish’s fire team landed just short of the canopy and ran in. Based on what they had learned in the sims, they spread out and moved quickly. It only took twenty seconds to be in-range, and then the fight started.

  Irish and Dusty fired first, saturating the position with fire from their shoulder-mounted rocket launchers on the run. It would probably destroy any intelligence, but Irish wasn’t under orders to gather intel—just to kill whatever was out there.

  The squad charged in and converged on the location, to find that their rocket fire had done the job. Irish thought he could make out two Besquith corpses and some computer gear. The scene repeated itself at all four points around the base.

  He gathered up what he could from the wreckage and called on Markus.

  “Sir, can you come in and make sure we’re not missing anything?”

  “Copy that, Irish. On my way.”

  Markus made his way in, turning all of his sensor
s up. “You folks might want to back off a little to prevent any kind of disruption, just in case.”

  Irish ordered his squad to move back and keep an eye on the area. They were focused and looked for any movement that didn’t belong.

  Markus reached the location and looked around, then checked his sensors. “Nothing. Looks like you took care of them pretty well. Now let’s blind them. I’m sending both squads targeting data for where the enemy’s sensors are located. Take them out.”

  Around the perimeter over the next ten minutes, lasers, machine guns, and MAC bursts took out the sensors Markus had detected.

  Markus commed Major King while the squads were destroying them and said, “Major, I’d like to walk the perimeter once they’re done, to make sure their scouts didn’t put down anything new.”

  “Roger that, Spartan,” she responded. “Sounds like a good idea. Do that and get everyone back inside the walls to rearm and recharge. How are your power levels?”

  Markus checked his levels and frowned. They were not good at all. If he was lucky, he had another hour of operation, but he knew what he had to do.

  “I’m good to handle the sweep, ma’am.” It wasn’t technically a lie…as long as he moved quickly.

  “Copy. Once you’re back in and racked, head over to the briefing room. I’m sure the colonel will want your observations,” King said.

  “Yes, ma’am. Will do,” Markus replied and cut the channel.

  Markus jumped back into Irish’s squadnet. “Okay, Irish. Your squad is going to stick with me while I do a sweep of the perimeter to make sure the scouts didn’t plant any new sensors, then we’re back inside to rearm and recharge. If you want to split up your fire teams and send one back now, that’s up to you.”

  Irish responded instantly, “Fire Team Two, back to the warehouse to rearm and recharge. Fire Team One, on me.”

  Markus led the team on a full circuit around the base and found no new readings on his sensors. Satisfied they were clean, they headed back to join the rest of the squad in the warehouse.

  Every mechanic on base was inside the warehouse, working to service the CASPers. Bravo Company was spread out around the base, ready in case an attack came while Alpha Company was doing their turnaround.

  Markus climbed down out of the CASPer, and Volk started hooking it up to the maintenance console. Markus started to leave the hanger, but he was stopped in his tracks.

  “Dammit, Spartan!” Volk yelled.

  He cringed. He had hoped to get out of the hangar before she caught the power levels on the Hoplite. He sighed and turned around and walked back.

  “Do you realize you only had fifteen minutes of power left?”

  He nodded. “I do, Steph. I had a job to do.”

  She sighed, unable to stay mad or even pretend. She shook her head. “You realize I’m going to have to hand all the reports to the Major, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah…I know I’ll get the riot act, but I wasn’t going to let our troopers go into an ambush.”

  “I know. I hope they know what they’ve got with you, Spartan. One hell of a trooper.”

  He smiled. “Make sure my assault mech is ready. I’m sure I’ll be back.”

  “It already is…now go; they’re waiting for you,” Volk said.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kelfor-6, Zuparti Base Command Center

  In the command center, Sansar nodded to herself. It couldn’t have gone better. The simulations she’d had designed for a Besquith ambush had paid off. Each of the squads was bringing back what they could find, but there wasn’t much after the rocket barrages. It was probably overkill, but she wasn’t willing to take chances with her troopers. They knew where to hit, so it was the safest way to go. From what she had seen already, the positions looked well prepared—like they had been used before.

  She left the command center and went to her briefing room, where Major King, Major Enkh, and Hazard were waiting.

  “Okay,” Sansar started, “what do we know?”

  Major King spoke up first. “Based on what I’ve seen from the reports and imagery, those were long-term recon positions. I’d say they’ve been using them for at least a month, just based on the amount of trash that was accumulated around the locations.”

  Sansar nodded. “So the Besquith don’t clean up after themselves…which actually helps us there. Big question, how have they been operating on the planet without us seeing them?”

  There was a collective shrug. “Honestly, ma’am,” King continued, “since we haven’t sent long-range scouts out, they can operate anywhere on the planet outside of our radar range, and we’d never know it.”

  “Okay, what do we do about that?” Sansar looked at each person in the room in turn.

  “Spartan has his dragonflies out, they should be back in about an hour, ma’am. He’ll be joining us as soon as his CASPer is racked if you want more information from him. I asked him to join us.”

  Sansar nodded. “Well, that should help. How far out are they going?”

  “Not sure, ma’am.”

  As if on cue, Markus walked in. “Major King requested I join you, ma’am.”

  “Thanks, Spartan,” Sansar said with a nod. “Take a seat.”

  Markus sat and waited.

  “I was just asking—how far out are your dragonflies going?”

  Markus considered. “It’s more of a timing setting, ma’am. It’ll depend on what they do along the way to get around obstructions. They’re going out to about a quarter of their power, and then running a search pattern on the way back. As long as they don’t get eaten by birds…they should be back in about an hour.”

  “That’s good, but we can’t count on them making it back. Major Enkh, any ideas?”

  “We have some of our larger scout drones we can send out.”

  “Good, let’s get that done ASAP. Anything else, folks?”

  Markus closed his eyes for a moment, then sat forward and put his elbows on the table. “Send me out in the Hoplite. It’s what I designed it for.”

  Sansar shook her head. “It’s showing promise, Spartan, I’ll give you that…but I’m not ready to send you out on a suicide mission. We already know that there are enemy forces here, and I’m not going to lose a trooper by sending you out solo. We’re not an assault company. I have every confidence these fortifications can hold, and so they shall. We’ll use drones to scout so we have some early warning. Beyond that, everyone stays behind the walls for now. Our contract is to defend the facility, and that’s what we’ll do.”

  Markus nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Major King, let’s make sure a good number of our CASPers are armed with heat seekers. We have good AA around the compound, but I’d rather have too much than not enough. Have the maintenance crews ready to hot-swap them if necessary. I’d say we’re looking at an assault any day now, since we blinded them by taking out their sensors. Once Alpha Company is rearmed, have them get out around the base and let Bravo Company get some rack time since they just came off patrol.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I was thinking the same,” King responded.

  “Okay folks, I think that’s all we can do for now. Major Enkh, have intel going over every image from every CASPer that just came back. Let’s see what we can find out.”

  The group left the conference room, and Major King held back to talk to Markus.

  “Spartan…I need every able trooper I have in a CASPer for this.”

  Markus nodded, walking silently beside King. “I figured you would.”

  “I want you in your assault CASPer for the defense…I’ve already cleared it with Major Enkh, but I’m not going to make it an order. If you don’t think you’re ready, then I don’t need you.”

  Markus stopped walking, and King stopped a few steps later and turned back to face him.

  “I know you have doubts, Major,” Spartan said. “I have them myself…but I think I’m ready. It’s different this time.”

/>   King nodded. “This isn’t revenge, Spartan…right?”

  Markus shook his head. “No, ma’am. I wouldn’t mind getting a few back, but I’m also not looking to die in a hail of MAC fire.”

  King looked Markus in the eye. “Then why did you nearly run the Hoplite out of power?”

  Markus sighed and met King’s eyes. “Because I had a mission to complete, ma’am.”

  King shook her head. “I can’t let you go back out in that thing until the power problem is solved. You know that.”

  Markus nodded. “I know.”

  “Okay, Spartan. Hobo already has your CASPer ready. The intel team can handle the data your dragonflies bring back, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am; they’re fully briefed.”

  “Good. Mount up, Spartan.”

  Markus saluted and took off for the warehouse at a jog.

  * * *

  Kelfor-6, Besquith Base Camp

  “What do you mean gone?” General Betreth roared in the command center.

  Stor-Al took a step back. “Sir, apparently the humans knew our scouts were there. Our source said they knew they were being jammed and took them out.”

  Betreth picked up a chair and threw it across the room, knocking one unfortunate communications specialist out cold. “How?”

  “We don’t know, sir. We had no reason to think they knew about our jammers.”

  “Well, now they know we’re on-planet. Your scouts have destroyed months of planning by being seen.”

  “Sir!” One of the Besquith at a sensor station called out. “They’ve destroyed the sensors! We’re blind!”

  Betreth’s roar was such that it seemed like the room was shaking. “Prepare the attack. We will finish off these Humans once and for all. The time for being quiet is at an end. Now it is time to go to war! Prepare the crews to lower the ramps in three hours. Have all troops ready to go once they are open. The Humans will never know what hit them. Stor-Al, tell the bugs their fighters will launch in two and a half hours to strike before our troops assault their base, then get back to your ship. Remember to stay below the humans’ radar until you’re out of sight.”