With Your Shield

by Chris Kennedy

  The room exploded into activity as Betreth’s orders were followed.

  Betreth stormed out of the command center and through the tunnels. Their underground base was mostly caves and tunnels that had pre-existed on the planet, but they had added to them before the Zuparti arrived on-planet. There had been a few incidents where their explosions had caused tremors on the surface, but that was quickly remedied once they found out what was happening. They hadn’t wanted to scare the Zuparti off the planet after so much planning had gone into this operation.

  Even the tunnels to the surface he intended to build were mostly already there. It had turned out that the apex predator on Kelfor-6 lived underground and used an ambush style attack to hunt. He had only lost a few soldiers to them before they were all eliminated. He was sure there were other cave systems with more, but they had destroyed the ones close enough to give them trouble.

  They had spent the remaining time underground training. They had set up their best estimations of what the humans’ defensive walls would be and had practiced scaling them, blasting through them, and tunneling under them. He had considered extending the tunnels under their base and just popping up behind their walls, but the blasting would have been too difficult to conceal. They could have used lasers, but even then, there was the danger of detection. Betreth had not earned his reputation by being careless, and he wanted his payback very badly.

  * * *

  Kelfor-6, MinSha Fighter Base

  After receiving the communication from Captain Stor-Al, Major Ketaryl had her fighter pilots get into the three fighters they had waiting under complex camouflage so that a visual scan from space would not reveal them. One cruise missile was loaded under each of the fighters’ wings, and the launcher rails were elevated. The fighters, Series 18 exo-atmospheric models—also used in space—were not aerodynamic at all, so they required a lot of thrust to get off the ground. They had vertical thrust capability, but this time Ketaryl was using a different method. Rockets attached to the fighters would blast them off the rails into the air and then would detach. From there, the fighters would attack the Humans from the air, where they would least expect it.

  Ketaryl was convinced that her fighters, not the Besquith animals, would make the difference. Her fighters would destroy the base before the Besquith could even get close. She had brought some of the best pilots she had, and the fighters were up to the task. Besides the cruise missiles, they were also each armed with heavy lasers, which would tear through whatever defenses the humans could devise, including their damnable CASPers. They were also prepared with chaff and flares for defense against the humans’ missiles. They would claim the victory today.

  * * *

  Kelfor-6, Besquith Base Camp

  Captain Stor-Al emerged from the underground base and noted the fighters were ready. He ran to his shuttle and took off as soon as it was powered up. It would take an hour to get back to his ship, carefully hidden behind the next closest planet, but once there, he would be ready to take on their space station. There was no way these humans had it defended already. This was even better than the original plan.

  * * *

  Kelfor-6, Zuparti Base Command Center

  Carrie looked up from her screens. “Major, we’re starting to get the data from Specialist Burke on the latest dragonfly run. Looks like only three made it back this time.”

  Enkh nodded. “Okay, get the team working on it; we need to know if there’s anything out there as soon as possible.”

  Carrie disseminated the information to her team and started combing through her portion. She furrowed her brow when she saw an irregular pattern from the drone data she was analyzing, and then her eyes widened. “Holy shit!”

  “You’ve been hanging around Spartan too long,” Major Enkh said, standing at her shoulder. “What do we have?”

  “Sorry, ma’am, but it looks like one of the drones flew through a laser communication stream.”

  “What? Okay, it’s supposed to trace the origin and destination vectors, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m calculating it now.” Carrie’s fingers flew across her slate and then she pushed herself back in her chair. “It’s coming from…here.”

  “Here? What do you mean here?” Enkh stared at the screens.

  “It’s coming from this base, ma’am, that or somewhere beyond it. The line of bearing goes through the base…and it looks like it goes right through one of the upper floors of the Zuparti control building.”

  Enkh frowned. “And where is it going in the other direction?”

  Carrie shrugged. “I don’t know. The dragonfly didn’t detect anything, so it’s fairly far out, whatever it’s aimed at.”

  “Okay, keep looking over what we have; I’ll pass it up to the colonel.”

  * * *

  Sansar frowned to herself after a quick discussion with Major Enkh. There was probably a spy somewhere on base. She knew it wasn’t one of hers, so it had to be a Zuparti. She walked out of the prefab building she was using as a command center. She had asked Major King to send her two troopers to accompany her. Markus and Sergeant Johnson were waiting for her at the door with slung laser rifles. Their CASPers were standing nearby, locked down.

  “Major King said you needed a few troopers, and we were the closest. What’s going on, ma’am?” Markus asked.

  “Well, I suppose it’s fitting that you’re here, Spartan. Your drones found a communications laser and tracked it back here.”

  Markus’ jaw dropped. “What? Here?”

  Sansar nodded.

  Johnson and Markus both unslung their laser rifles. “Lead the way, ma’am.”

  They proceeded to the Zuparti building and went inside. Sansar led the way, with Markus and Johnson just a step behind her and to each side. The Zuparti in the room, learning from the Horde specialists, glanced back to see who was coming through and hissed, scampering out of their chairs and moving as far away as they could.

  Sansar rolled her eyes and continued through the room to the stairs that would take them up to the third floor of the building, where the signal originated, based on the trace done by the drone.

  “Get back to work, we’re expecting an attack at any time!” she ordered before she left the room.

  Markus and Johnson had their weapons at low ready and had moved ahead of Sansar. They used a leapfrog approach, where one would cover an angle, while the other moved up the stairs to the next place of cover. Sansar stayed back, but had her pistol in hand. They eased their way onto the third floor.

  “Hallway clear!” Markus reported.

  They moved down the hall to the door that was at the center of the probability cone for the transmission. “I don’t feel like knocking. Spartan, would you do the honors?”

  He nodded. “My pleasure, ma’am.”

  Johnson took a covering position beside the door, and Markus kicked the door in. He made a fast entry, rifle ready, with Johnson right on his heels to cover his side. Within a second, they both had their rifles aimed at a lone Zuparti who was sitting at a desk with a slate. It was in his hands until they entered, but then he dropped it, whistled loudly in alarm, and threw his hands up.

  Sansar walked between the troopers, holstering her sidearm. “Redep…right?”

  Seemingly unable to speak, Redep nodded emphatically.

  “Dusty, check the room.”

  Johnson shouldered his rifle and started tearing through the small closet, then knelt down to look under the bed. He pulled out a metal case and put it on the bed.

  Markus looked down his rifle’s sights into Redep’s eyes. It wasn’t strictly necessary at this range, but it was very, very intimidating.

  Sansar spoke in a level voice. “Is there anything on or in that case that will hurt us? Booby traps?”

  Redep shook his head and spoke in a squeaky voice. “No, no.”

  Sansar nodded to Johnson. “Open it.”

  Johnson flipped the latches on the case and slowly opened it, letting the t
op fall back. Inside was a communication system, complete with a collapsible antenna and laser transmitter.

  Sansar closed the door behind her as best she could; Markus had destroyed the latching mechanism.

  “Well, Redep. It would seem you have some explaining to do.” Sansar stared at Redep and crossed her arms over her chest.

  Redep cowered back against the wall and shut his eyes tight. His entire body quivered.

  “Are there any more spies within the walls?” Sansar asked. Redep shook his head. “Are you very sure of that?”

  Redep nodded. “Yes, yes. I’m sure.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I don’t, I guess, but they’ve never mentioned anyone else here.”

  “Who have you been communicating with?”

  Redep hissed and shook his head. “I don’t know their names. All I know is they’re Besquith.”

  “We already know they’re Besquith. How many? What have you been telling them?”

  “I don’t know how many…quite a few.” He opened his eyes a bit. “I give them daily reports, what you are doing, how many, where the defenses are, where the gate is.”

  Sansar frowned and switched to her comm. “Stand by everyone. We just caught a spy inside the compound, and it looks like there may be an attack coming soon. The attacking force is Besquith and knows our routines and positioning. All forces are to shift positions and watch the gate.”

  Markus clenched his jaw and his hand tightened on the rifle.

  Sansar sighed and shook her head. “Why?”

  “The general in charge of the Besquith hates you,” Redep said softly. “They offered me 500,000 credits that they said they’d give me after you’ve all been killed. They offered me transportation off this useless rock and enough money to take care of my family…forever.”

  “Hah! You think you’d survive any assault on this base? Or that once everyone else was dead that they wouldn’t kill you, too? Then they’re half a million credits richer…and there’s no witnesses.”

  Redep opened his mouth, but nothing came out. “What you say is probably the truth,” he finally said in a small voice. “I just didn’t see it in my desire to get off this planet.”

  “When are you supposed to report again?”

  “I’m not,” Redep said. “They said no more reports…”

  “Then they are going to attack soon. Idiot. Sergeant Johnson, take him into custody and find somewhere to lock him up.” Sansar switched to her comm. “All forces, red alert! Attack imminent!” She turned to Markus. “Spartan get back to your CASPer. You are to take command of Staff Sergeant Johnston’s squad and defend the gate. I’ll notify Major King.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Markus slung his rifle and left the room at a jog while Johnson pushed Redep out of the room at rifle point.

  Sansar sighed and looked around the room after Johnson had left. They already knew Besquith were on planet, but they still had no idea how many or what they had brought. She shook her head and left the room, heading back to the command center to prepare.

  * * *

  Markus raced out of the building. Suddenly, there was no place he wanted to be more than in his CASPer, and he felt exceedingly naked without it. As quickly as he could, he climbed back into his CASPer, ran through an abbreviated start-up checklist, and headed toward the gate. He looked over the distribution of troopers around the fortification and was not surprised—Major King already had the defenses in good shape. He sent a comm request to Irish before jumping into their squadnet.

  “I got the word, sir. No problems from me. I’ve already notified the squad.”

  “Just so you know, this wasn’t my idea, Irish.”

  “Sir, you’ve been here before; I’m ready to kill some Besquith.”

  Markus grinned. “You’ll get your chance very soon, I think.”

  Markus jumped into the full squadnet. “Okay, folks, maintain your positions and keep your eyes peeled. If anything is coming, hopefully our radar will spot it before it gets too close…but never forget the fact that they might have some sort of new jamming tech. Be ready to shoot anything that pokes its head up over the wall.”

  He was answered by a chorus of, “Yes, sir!”

  Markus had been here many times and relaxed as much as he could while in the cockpit of the CASPer. There was nothing they could do now but wait.

  * * *

  Free Trading Station, Above Kelfor-6

  “There is…there is a Besquith battlecruiser coming toward us,” the Zuparti at the comm panel wailed. The alien looked like he was within seconds of wetting himself.

  “A what?” Lieutenant Rob Maxson asked. “There aren’t supposed to be any hostiles in this system. What in the Blue Sky do they want?”

  “They…they want us to surrender.”

  “What?”

  “They say if we surrender, they won’t kill us all.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  “I want to believe that.”

  “Yeah, well that’s not good enough.” Maxson opened a comm channel. “I’m going to need you up in the control room.”

  “Sir?” First Sergeant Richard Hailey asked. “I’m kind of up to my arms in wiring at the moment. What do you need?”

  “It appears there’s a Besquith battlecruiser headed our way, and this isn’t something that was ever covered in cadre. I’m afraid I might need a little advice, First Sergeant.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hailey replied. “I’m on my way.” He paused and then added, “Although if it’s a battlecruiser versus our unarmed space station and squad of CASPers, I may need a little advice of my own.”

  * * *

  Kelfor-6, Zuparti Base Command Center

  Thirty minutes later, a call came out over the command net. “Three bogeys incoming from the north. Fast movers, probably fighters.”

  An alarm went off in the barracks that could be heard from the courtyard, waking up Bravo Company, and they scrambled for their CASPers. Major King ordered Alpha Company to shift their positions so their anti-air equipped CASPers could provide secondary cover for the AA mounted on the fortifications. Other members of the company ran to the mobile radar vehicle sitting outside the warehouse, in case the primary radar was taken out.

  Markus transmitted on the squadnet. “Okay, three fighters coming in from the north. We stay here. There’s plenty of AA to cover that aspect, but everyone with missiles, stay alert in case the outer defenses miss something.”

  Another transmission came over the net, the voice calm and professional. “Separation. I have four…no six smaller targets, probably cruise missiles, now on radar. Prepare for missiles!”

  Around the base, additional air raid klaxons went off.

  Markus spared a look back at the main building. The radar on top of the building would likely be the first target, trying to blind them. He heard the close-in defense machine guns and cannons begin firing, and a number of missiles launched from the north and east walls, attempting to intercept the cruise missiles. There were several loud explosions, but then missiles screamed into the compound.

  With cataclysmic detonations, two of the missiles struck the north wall, blasting huge holes in the ferrocrete. One hit the center of the wall, and the other hit the eastern corner, collapsing a small portion of both the northern and eastern walls.

  A third missile screamed past to slam into the main building, and concrete and metal flew in all directions as the missile detonated. The radar array went spiraling off into the air, and debris from the building fell onto the prefab buildings next to it. Markus felt his blood run cold—those buildings weren’t built to take that kind of damage, and several sections caved in as large pieces of the building fell through their roofs.

  Markus couldn’t help but think about the men and women who had just been killed, then his eyes widened. He called up the schematic of the structure and compared it to the sections which had been destroyed…network operations was gone, along with probably everyone in it. Carrie was
on duty…His thoughts were brought back to the present as more missiles launched from the wall. He pulled up the overview provided by the mobile radar vehicle, which had gone operational just in time. The three fighters were still coming. The cameras on his CASPer caught laser fire coming from them as they approached. Were they trying to carve a hole in the wall? Or were they firing at the weapons on the wall? A heavy laser bolt snapped past him.

  “Cover!” he yelled as he dove behind one of the buildings. Schooling his voice to be a little calmer and in control, he added, “Second Squad, keep a close eye on the wall; those holes may be for an attacking force of Besquith that are following the fighters.”

  “Copy that, Spartan,” came the immediate response.

  Markus watched with satisfaction as one of the fighters went down and disappeared from the radar, but the other two managed to elude the missiles chasing them and raced toward the compound, continuing to fire their lasers. “Two fighters still coming, prepare to engage,” Markus ordered.

  Black, Morton, Happy, and Essex turned to face somewhat south, so they could launch at the hot after-aspect of the fighters when they went past. Three seconds later, the fighters screamed over the compound, their lasers firing at the warehouse. Missiles launched from a number of locations around the base, including from his squad, but the fighters’ lasers had already penetrated the structure, detonating some of the explosives stored inside. He saw a large number of the CASPers starting up in the warehouse go red on his command display. Damn, that’s not going to make things easier.

  In all, at least fifteen heat-seeking missiles and five more radar-guided ones leaped from fortifications around the compound and the CASPers inside it. The majority tracked the lead fighter as the two split, and at least three converged on it. One tore off its right wing, and the fighter crashed into the jungle to the south with a satisfying explosion.