Metal Legion Boxed Set 1

by C H Gideon

  “If so, why the ambushes?” Jenkins pressed. “If they wanted to talk with us, why attack us and tear our mechs down?”

  Styles leaned forward intently. “Xenopsychology is anything but intuitive, Colonel. Even anthropologists have trouble coming to a consensus on the root meaning of a simple gesture like the human smile. We think of it as a universally pleasant display, but think about it for a second: you’re baring your teeth at someone when you smile. When do most animals on Earth bare their teeth?”

  “It’s a threat display.” Xi nodded in seeming agreement.

  “Which means it’s possible,” Styles continued, “that humans are such aggressive and violent creatures that we consider certain teeth-baring displays to be friendly. And think about handshakes. Few people stop and consider what you’re doing by shaking someone else’s hand, but it’s usually right-hand-on-right-hand,” he explained, picking up steam as he went, “and since most people are right-handed...”

  “It’s a gesture of temporary mutual disarmament,” Xi finished with certainty. “Like a salute harkens back to knightly visors needing to be raised while approaching on horseback.”

  “And salutes are done with the right hand.” Styles nodded approvingly. “Which, again, is a tacit agreement to mutually disarm long enough to attempt a peaceful exchange. But we take all of those gestures for granted because they’re based on our physiologies and social traditions.”

  “It’s possible the bugs are just following their social programming the same way we do with salutes and handshakes.” Xi shrugged. “Maybe they view an ambush like we view a smile? It’s a threat display, yes, but it’s obviously got limits. And maybe—” Her visage hardened as she finished. “—just maybe, we’re failing to observe those limits because we don’t yet know what they are.”

  “And if the Jemmin thought we couldn’t crack the code,” Styles said pointedly, “they wouldn’t have fired on the fleeing bug. They’d have just let us keep beating our forces against each other.”

  “The Jemmin are nervous, Colonel,” Xi declared without reservation, “and I think I know how to move this social exchange with the bugs forward a step or two.”

  “Let’s say you’re right,” Jenkins allowed, “and let’s say that the bugs do ambush you again, giving you a chance to test your theory. What about the Jemmin? They’re not going to lie down while you try to introduce the Terran Republic to this new species.”

  “If I’m right, Colonel,” Xi said heavily, “then the only way we get off this rock alive is by contacting these bugs and initiating diplomatic overtures. Together we can probably defeat the Jemmin and clear an exit path from Shiva’s Wrath. But without help…” she trailed off grimly.

  Unfortunately, Jenkins knew she was right. The conflict on this frozen ball had boiled down to a war of attrition, and it was clear that the Jemmin still held the upper hand in numbers and lethality. All the Jemmin had to do was wait long enough for the radiation to kill the human intruders.

  “All right…” Jenkins leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “Let’s hear your plan.”

  14

  Symmetry

  The next day, as Shiva’s Wrath slowly passed into the shadow of its parent planet, Xi was out on patrol attached to 7th Platoon attached to 3rd Company. In another day and a half, Shiva’s Wrath would be plunged into a dark, eclipse-driven “night” that would last for four standard days. That meant Xi needed to get lucky if she was to execute her plan under better conditions.

  Part of her plan required her to be with a new unit, and Lieutenant Jesse Winters’ company-command platoon was down a mech after the latest Jemmin attack. She thought it an ideal candidate for her first test. Also unbeknownst to her current patrol mates, she had canceled all direct fire support from HQ, authorizing nothing but missile shield support from the rest of the battalion.

  She needed to be at her best to pull this off. Thankfully, and true to form, Podsy had been able to deliver a badly-needed replacement leg for Elvira, which Koch’s people had finished installing mere minutes before Winters’ patrol left HQ.

  “All right, Generally,” Xi called as the group reached its zenith, “they didn’t hit us, so it’s time to pay up.”

  “We haven’t reached the patrol’s apex yet, Captain,” protested Winters, Generally’s Jock.

  “Come on, Winters,” Xi quipped. “You’ve been bragging about out-flanking me since you transferred over from Terra Han PDF. You lost, so pay up.”

  “C’mon, Captain,” Winters pleaded as they officially reached the patrol’s farthest point, “double or nothing.”

  “Better back off, LT,” interrupted Colossus’ Jock with a chuckle. “I heard she rearranged Forktail’s face but good back on Durgan’s Folly. Rumor has it she’s long on temper and short on mercy.”

  “I’m a woman, Colossus,” Xi quipped, “what’d you expect? You try playing with the physicality short stack in every single fight of your life and see how merciful you are.”

  “Brutally honest,” Lieutenant Winters mused. “I like that in a woman. Even more in a CO.”

  “Luckily for both of us, I’m neither to you, Generally,” Xi said with a grin. “Consider this a one-off walk around the block so I can get to know Last Company a little better.”

  “Ouch,” Colossus laughed at the “Last Company” insult, which had grown in popularity after Winters had demonstrated himself a more-than-capable unit commander. “You gonna stand for that, LT?”

  “Doesn’t sound like I’ll be taking it lying down.” Winters sighed.

  “You take it however you can get it, Generally,” Xi snickered.

  “You got me there, Captain.”

  She enjoyed the banter beyond the pale. It was one of the few ways she felt connected with her comrades. No matter how dank or queasy the subject became, she always felt like it was in those moments that she was most connected with the men and women who fought alongside her.

  “Hold up,” Leapfrog interjected. “I’m reading seismic disturbances.”

  “Defensive posture.” Xi felt a thrill as the moment of truth approached. “Do not fire unless fired upon.”

  “What?” Winters blurted in alarm. “Say again, Elvira?”

  But before she could reply, the ice-field around them erupted as four breach points appeared. Showers of icy shards flew upward amid roiling clouds of steam, behind which a quartet of bug vehicles appeared.

  The bugs had appeared in a picture-perfect diamond pattern near-perfectly centered on her mech. That display of geometric precision meant they had once again precisely predicted her patrol’s path well in advance.

  The bugs unleashed a quartet of plasma streams at the towering, humanoid Colossus. Two beams splashed off the mech’s robustly-armored shoulders while its legs were struck by one apiece. The largest mech in the patrol staggered, teetering on the very edge of its ability to balance, before righting itself and squaring to a bug vehicle.

  Generally’s artillery roared, sending HE shells into one of the bugs while Colossus’ coilguns sent hundreds of rounds per second at the nearest target. Leapfrog sent a dozen missile-intercept drones into the sky while engaging its own target with a pair of chain guns.

  Xi admired the platoon’s ferocity and fast response, but for her plan to work, she needed them to do the unthinkable.

  “Cease fire! Cease fire,” she repeated over the 7th Platoon channel. “7th Platoon, cease fire!”

  Slowly, 7th Platoon complied, and a few seconds later, all guns were silent. “Captain?” Lieutenant Winters demanded. “What are you doing?”

  “Hold your fire, 7th Platoon,” Xi commanded. “As battalion XO, I’m temporarily assuming operational command of this patrol.”

  “You’re what!?” he asked in mixed confusion and anger.

  “Under no circumstances are you to open fire, Lieutenant Winters,” Xi continued, walking Elvira forward while ignoring his somewhat-understandable bout of insubordination. “7th Platoon, fall back on heading o
ne-seven-five at twenty KPH. Acknowledge.”

  “I’m not about to surrender operational command without an explanation, Elvira,” Winters snapped, bristling just as she had expected he would. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Stand down, Generally,” she barked as the insect vehicles continued to circle, but thankfully did not open fire.

  Yet.

  “Negative, Captain,” Winters refused. “This patrol’s orders are to engage hostile targets. These things have opened fire without provocation, and I am authorizing my people to—”

  As he spoke, Xi pivoted Elvira so that her right-flank chain guns were trained on the heavily-armored Generally. She unleashed those guns against Generally’s formidable forward hull, stabbing sixty slugs into his composite armor before ceasing fire.

  “You have your orders, Lieutenant,” she growled. “Move off on heading one-seven-five at twenty KPH. Now!”

  “You have just opened fire on an allied vehicle,” Winters sneered. “You’ll lose your command over this!”

  “Acknowledge your orders, Generally,” Xi said through gritted teeth, knowing that much depended on his compliance.

  Several taut seconds passed before Winters replied, “7th Platoon, fall back on course one-seven-five. Speed: twenty KPH.”

  The trio of mechs began to withdraw, and for a moment, Xi was afraid she had erred. All four of the bugs remained on the field, maintaining their perfectly-symmetrical diamond pattern as they circled her position.

  Then it happened.

  The nearest bug, which was as-yet undamaged, turned to face her while the others made for the icy tunnels from which they had sprung mere minutes earlier.

  Seconds after they had shifted their posture, the three bugs disappeared down the holes.

  “I’ll be damned…” Winters muttered.

  Then, just as Xi had predicted, the tactical plotter lit up with dozens of missile signatures.

  Jemmin missile signatures.

  “7th Platoon,” she called, “you are authorized to engage inbound missiles only. Do not, I say again, do not under any circumstances interfere with my engagement. Acknowledge.”

  “7th Platoon acknowledges,” Winters agreed, his former anger and surprise replaced with professionalism. Just as Xi had hoped it would be.

  Leapfrog and Generally sent anti-missile rockets into the sky, while Colossus’ trio of railguns stabbed at inbound missiles. The early miss rate was concerning, but Xi had more important things to worry about than dealing with a few missiles that might kill her while she wasn’t looking.

  She had a fight to win.

  “Eighty-four Jemmin missiles inbound on Elvira’s position, Colonel,” Styles reported.

  “Coordinate with Bahamut Zero,” Jenkins ordered. “I don’t want a single strike within five hundred meters of Elvira’s position.”

  Rockets soared into the sky and railguns stabbed upward, scrubbing no more than a quarter of their targets. But as had been demonstrated amply throughout human history, quantity had a quality all its own.

  Bahamut Zero’s anti-missile shield went hot, splitting the sky and melting the ice around it as rockets shot from their mounts and railgun capacitors discharged. Unfortunately, Bahamut Zero’s targeting systems were no more accurate than the rest of the battalion’s, which was bad news in more ways than Jenkins cared to think about.

  Luckily, Styles had planned for that eventuality.

  “Styles…” Jenkins drew a steadying breath. “Execute program Bloodmoon.”

  “Program Bloodmoon, aye,” Styles acknowledged before raising Eclipse on the P2P. “Eclipse, this is Roy. Execute Bloodmoon. I say again: execute Bloodmoon.”

  “Bloodmoon order confirmed,” Eclipse acknowledged, and all of Roy’s sensor feeds briefly went dark. “Blanket interference initiated,” Eclipse declared. “Uploading new targeting solutions throughout the battalion via chained P2P linkage.”

  Precious seconds ticked by while missiles soared through the air. The battalion stood by, every man and woman on edge as the special operations mech, Eclipse, did what it did best.

  Then the sensor fog suddenly disappeared, followed by Eclipse’s report. “All targeting systems slaved to Eclipse. Bloodmoon is online.”

  “Copy that,” Jenkins cut in across the battalion-wide comm. link. “This is Roy. Re-engage anti-missile shield under pattern aegis six. I say again: aegis six.”

  The acknowledgments flickered across Roy’s comm panel, and this time when the battalion unleashed its anti-missile arsenal, it did so with devastating effect.

  Railguns struck missiles at an accuracy rate greater than ninety percent, while anti-missile rockets managed to clear the seventy percent mark. Hundreds of outbound rockets scrubbed their targets as the Jemmin sent up a second, larger wave of a hundred and fifty missiles in reply.

  Jenkins had just played his last major card in authorizing Bloodmoon. By rebooting Eclipse’s entire computer system, he had relegated it to a purely support role from which it, and it alone, would provide live telemetry and targeting solutions to the rest of the battalion.

  With a fresh, uncontaminated targeting computer, Eclipse could temporarily neutralize the Jemmin virus’s effects on Terran targeting systems. It wouldn’t take the Jemmin long to triangulate on Eclipse’s newfound importance, and when they learned of it, they would attack with a vengeance to once again neutralize the Terran missile shield.

  But for those few seconds following Bloodmoon’s activation, Colonel Lee Jenkins couldn’t help but smile as Jemmin missiles were torn from the sky with clinical precision. The entire first wave was eliminated long before it could interfere with Xi’s bizarre attempt at diplomacy.

  Sure enough, and quite a bit faster than Jenkins would have liked, the Jemmin responded to this latest shift in battlefield conditions.

  “Two hundred Jemmin missiles inbound on HQ,” Styles reported urgently as a fresh volley of inbound ordnance appeared on the screen. Making little attempt to hide their position, the Jemmin authors of those missiles suddenly became visible on the screens.

  “Authorize anti-personnel weapons to engage inbound missiles,” Jenkins ordered. “But under no circumstances are we to compromise Elvira’s shield.”

  “Copy that, sir,” Styles acknowledged.

  “Preacher, this is Roy.” Jenkins raised the company’s main missile-mech. “You are cleared to engage Jemmin targets at your discretion.”

  “Preacher here,” the missile mech’s Jock acknowledged with relish, “spreadin’ the word.”

  Missiles screamed out of Preacher’s launch tubes, locked onto a handful of distinct Jemmin targets that Eclipse’s ultra-powerful sensors were finally able to locate after the purge of its sensor computer.

  The Jemmin targets scrambled, looking every bit like spooked rabbits as the precision projectiles hurtled toward them on low trajectories.

  “Incoming!” Chaps called out before Roy was rocked by a Jemmin near-miss. A dozen missiles struck the icy field of the battalion’s new HQ, with two striking targets directly and the rest missing by less than five meters.

  “Their targeting systems aren’t any better than ours,” Jenkins realized, as Eclipse and the anti-missile drones now hovering above HQ created a partially effective sensor barrier to Jemmin targeting systems.

  “Not so tough now, are you?” Chaps sneered, sending SRMs streaking toward a fresh Jemmin target twenty-one kilometers from HQ. Roy’s chain guns whined on full-output, and they actually managed to snipe a pair of missiles a hundred meters above the surface. Their mid-air explosions showered HQ with shrapnel, some clattering off Roy’s topside. “I love it when it rains!” Chaps howled gleefully, turning Roy toward a fresh Jemmin signature as his previous flight of SRMs pulverized the twenty-one-kilometer target.

  For the moment, the tide was in their favor, and Jenkins knew they needed to take as much advantage as possible.

  Because if there was one thing he had learned in his career about
momentum, it was that the pendulum never stopped swinging until the last enemy was off the board.

  Podsy knew what he was about to do could get him court-martialed. There was no question. And frankly, he couldn’t blame them.

  A firefight had just erupted on the surface, and it looked like this one would be for the whole kit and kaboodle. He had done a monumental amount of work on the Bonhoeffer to ensure a constant flow of supplies made its way planet-side, but he knew there was one more move he could make that might prove decisive.

  Then again, it might blow up in his face. And not just his face, but in the face of everyone on the Bonhoeffer.

  He had secretly coordinated with Styles to work up a program which, if introduced directly to the Bonhoeffer’s computer core, would do two things. First, it would confirm if the Jemmin had somehow managed to sneak their sensor virus into the Bonhoeffer’s systems. And second, if the Jemmin had achieved that unlikely feat, the upload would purge it just as it had done for Eclipse in preparation for Bloodmoon.

  Of course, all of that sounded well enough until one realized that in order to upload the antivirus, one would need to directly insert it into the Bonhoeffer’s computer core. If it worked, it would permit the warship’s powerful sensors to easily locate the Jemmin forces on Shiva’s Wrath, enabling orbital strikes to eliminate them from the surface of that frozen world.

  If it failed, it could potentially mean taking the Bonhoeffer’s entire sensor grid offline while the data techs worked to restore the system. Styles had been clear that the reboot process could take up to three hours, during which time the ship would be unable to contribute in any meaningful capacity.

  So even the normally devil-may-care Podsy hesitated as he reached toward the control icon which would insert the antivirus into the Bonhoeffer’s systems. The best-case scenario was that it worked, the Jemmin suddenly appeared on the Bonhoeffer’s scanners, and they were eliminated without anyone tracing the insertion back to Podsy.