Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales Read online

  The conditions were even worse than I expected. Visibility was less than ten meters, and even with Hector constantly enhancing the constructed images, the data from my scanners was fuzzy and difficult to read. The wind was fierce, and I could feel myself pushing against it even in my suit. It would have blown an unarmored man away like a dry leaf.

  I had assigned one platoon from each company form a circular picket line all around the LZ. I didn’t seriously expect the enemy to come out of their bunkers to fight us here, but long-range scanning was next to useless, and I wasn’t going to risk a surprise. The rest of us cleared the LZ. The Gordons were shot, but they had enough juice left to lift off and fly a few klicks before crashing. I wanted the landing zone clear. Dealing with the conditions was bad enough; I didn’t want the second wave having to deal with the debris from the first. God damn it, I wasn’t losing any more of my troops in crashes we could avoid.

  We had a couple of hard landings and a few more minor wounds, but the second wave made it in with none seriously hurt. I formed the battalion up with two companies abreast, covering a frontage of about 6 klicks. I had a company and the battalion assets in reserve about three klicks back.

  There were two major mining operations on the planet, and they were the only population centers. We were assaulting one of them, and as soon as we were engaged, the 2nd battalion would commence their landing against the other one.

  Our advance was slow. Even in powered armor, it’s not easy to make time slogging through waste deep ammonia snow, with almost no visibility and your scanners only half working. I didn’t want any stupid accidents causing unnecessary casualties, so I kept the pace very deliberate.

  We had a rough projection of the location of enemy bunkers, but we really had no idea what they’d managed to do since we burst through the warp gate and triggered the alarm systems. We didn’t even have a reliable estimate of enemy strength. Their visibility and scanning would be as fouled up as ours, but I figured they’d probably have some type of detection net set up. I gave orders for any squads that drew fire to fall back and report.

  I wanted to be in the forward line, but I knew the general didn’t want me there, so I took position back with the battalion assets. Not that he’d know unless I got hit. We had verbal communication with the fleet, but the radioactivity and the vicious storm cut the normal link with the battle computers on the flagship. We were on our own, much more than any strike force I’d been part of.

  We got to within one klick of where we had intermittent readings of some type of energy source, when automatic fire ripped across the frontage of one of my squads. They followed orders and pulled back, carrying their two casualties with them. The guys who were hit were just wounded, but both of them died before their comrades got them back to the medic. The cold and the atmosphere were a rough combination for the wounded to survive.

  I commed the entire battalion and told them to prioritize patching the armor of wounded personnel. The suit’s trauma control would stabilize most wounds, at least for a while. But it wouldn’t help if the injured Marines were exposed to the elements for too long. The suits did have a self-repair system, but it was only good for patching small breaches. We had adjustable patches that could be used for temporary repair jobs, but they had to be applied manually, usually by someone other than the wearer of the damaged suit.

  I ordered a platoon to move around the flank of the position that had opened fire, but they took fire from another direction and pulled back with one man down. Trying to flank the second enemy position we took fire from a third. I had Hector chewing on the probable locations, and he projected that there was an enemy position every 1,000 meters along a circle 3 klicks in radius out from the settlement. I had him transmit his best calculated locations to the platoon commanders.

  We still had no idea how big or well armed the strongpoints were. The fire was heavy, a SAW or equivalent at least, maybe something bigger. Frontally assaulting these things was going to be expensive, maybe even impossible in these conditions. If we could get clear line of sight we could try to take them out with heavy weapons fire, but a direct hit in this storm would be dumb luck.

  I had a plan, but it dug at my weak spot. It wasn’t exactly a suicide mission I had to give out, but it was close enough to gnaw at me. Unfortunately, it was the only decent idea I could come up with. “Hector, give me the four most experienced scouts.”

  “Garrison, Evers, Connors, and Rodriguez have the most months of service. Garrison, Harris, Connors, and Janek have the most assaults. Alvarez has fewer assaults and less time in service, but has been in two battles on worlds with extreme cold conditions. Recommendation of four most qualified candidates: Garrison, Connors, Janek, and Alvarez.”

  Wow. Not even one obnoxious remark. Hector was mellowing. I guess he was getting old like me. I thought for a second before making my decision. “Ok, Hector. Put me on com with Garrison, Connors, Janek, and Alvarez. Get Captain Frost on the line too.”

  “Of course.” His reply was immediate. “I am glad to see you accepting my recommendations. I anticipated some emotion-based need to adjust my determinations.”

  Oh well. Spoke too soon about Hector. “Just do it.”

  There were a few seconds of silence while he established the links. “You are connected with the requested parties.”

  I just launched right into it. “I have a mission for the four of you. We need to breach this ring of strongpoints, and we don’t have time to take potshots at them in this storm. I’m going to use specials to take them out, but we need better targeting than we have. These things are reinforced, and if we’re going to use warheads with low enough yields to allow us to advance immediately we’re going to have to land them right on the mark.

  “I want you to move out in two pairs, each toward one emplacement. We’re going to start popping grenades and rockets at them to get their attention, and you are going to sneak up and get close enough to hit the structures with a laser sight. You’re going to have to get really close, even with a high-powered laser—maybe 20-30 meters. I want you to take your time on the approach. Crawl the whole way; don’t raise anything high enough to get it shot off.

  “Here’s the tough part. They’re going to have the same trouble scanning you as we have with them, but when you hit them with that laser there’s a good chance they’ll detect it. We have no idea what’s behind that outer ring, but I want this whole thing to be a surprise, so I can only give you 5 minutes to get out of the blast radius. You guys crawl back as fast as you can, but at 4:45 I’m going to give you the warning, and you hug the ground as tightly as you can.

  “I’m sending two companies through the gap as soon as the shockwave passes, and we’re going to charge right into whatever is behind these bunkers before they have time to react. It’s enough time for you to get away from the blast, but just barely. So once one of you gets the sighting on a structure I want both of you on the way back instantly.”

  I paused a few seconds to let them process what I was saying. “One other thing. When you have visual and think you can get a laser spot, check in before doing it. We’ve got to get both teams in position before anyone paints the target. That 5 minutes starts when the first beam hits, so if the other team isn’t in position they’re not going to have time to get the spot done and get out in time. I know this is high risk, but it’s the only way we can get through these defenses without getting half the battalion shot up. Any questions?”

  I didn’t expect any, so I wasn’t surprised when there were none. Just four quick “no sirs.” I had Hector terminate the link, then told him to get Frost back on the line.

  “Frost here, sir.”

  “Dan, I want you to supervise the scouts. Split them into two pairs and monitor them every step of the way. I’m going to supervise the firing myself. Five minutes to the second after we get the first spot those nukes are going to fly. I want all four of those scouts to get back. Make sure they don’t spot until both are in position. I’m coun
ting on you.”

  “Understood, sir. Consider it done.”

  I cut that line and got Jax on. I filled him in on the plan and told him to have the two companies ready to get low when the warheads went off and prepare to attack immediately. I put Jax in command of the charge, but I really wanted to go myself.

  Ten minutes later two platoons supported by two heavy weapons teams from the battalion reserve opened fire with grenades and rocket launchers, while the four scouts started to move forward from the line. It takes quite a while to crawl a kilometer, and the next fifteen minutes was just about the longest in my life. It didn’t look like the enemy had spotted any of the scouts, but that wasn’t surprising. Crawling like they were the snow completely covered them. Scout suits had the best camo our technology could produce, and they also had a coating that interfered with scans. Not that any scans were worth a damn here anyway.

  The team on our right, Janek and Alvarez, got into position first. Alvarez commed a quick description of the structure. It looked like a hardened plasti-crete bunker mounting three heavy auto-cannons. Shit, I was right. We’d have been slaughtered if we’d advanced straight into that fire. They had only been firing one of the guns. Clever bastards. Trying to sucker us into a frontal assault.

  It didn’t take more than another minute before Garrison commed that he was in position. The left structure seemed to be a copy of the one on the right. I gave Frost the go ahead, and he had the scouts paint the targets. The second the laser sights hit the bunkers the position was relayed to the mortar teams I had ready. I had Hector counting down 300 seconds, giving me a warning every 30 until the last 30 and then counting down by ones.

  Without our normal scanner capability I didn’t have reliable location data on the returning scouts, so I really had no idea how they were doing. I felt myself willing them forward, as if I could pull them back by wishing it so.

  When Hector got to one minute I had the mortar teams arm their warheads. At thirty seconds I had him broadcast the countdown to the whole battalion.

  “Twenty-six, twenty-five, twenty-four…”

  Had I done everything I could? Should I give those guys an extra minute to get back?

  “Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen…”

  No. I had to stick to the plan. If there were more bunkers behind these and we lost the surprise, our attack would run right into a meatgrinder. At fifteen I told the scouts to hug the ground.

  “Twelve, eleven, ten…”

  I dropped down myself. The whole battalion was prone, though most of us were far enough back to avoid the worst of the shockwaves.

  “Five, four, three, two, one…”

  Buttoned up in my suit in the middle of an alien blizzard I couldn’t hear the shots go off. There was an eerie wait, maybe ten or twelve seconds while the rounds made their way to the target and then …

  The swirling snow flared bright yellow for an instant and then vaporized.

  “Everyone stay down until I give the order!” I had told them several times already, but it never hurt to make sure.

  I could hear rocks and debris bouncing off the back of my suit as the shock waves reached my position. It only lasted a few seconds and then subsided. I slowly got up onto my hands and knees and looked out into the suddenly improved visibility to see two small mushroom clouds. Hector gave me a breakdown of outside conditions. An unarmored man would have died instantly, probably first from the intense heat, though the concentration of ammonia vapor and the radiation were also well beyond lethal levels.

  I had Hector get Jax on the line. “Jax, start your attack. Be careful, and monitor the heat levels. You should be fine, but just make sure no one gets into a hotspot and exceeds their suit tolerance.”

  “Yes sir. Attack commencing now.”

  This was definitely the same old Jax. He had the companies heading forward in 15 or 20 seconds, and they were moving quickly. After about two minutes I got a report.

  “Major Cain, Jax here. We have visuals on the impact points. Significant craters and scattered plasti-crete debris. The bunkers are completely gone. No enemy presence, no hostile fire. Exterior temperature 923K.”

  “Thank you, Captain. Keep moving toward the center point. Report any structures or enemy action immediately. Continue monitoring outside conditions.”

  After he acknowledged, I got Frost on the line. He had the reserve company. “Frost, I’m attaching a heavy weapons team to your company. Move up and stay 3 klicks behind Jax’s troops. I want you in position to react to any developments.” I sent a couple of scouts around each flank to check on activity from the other bunkers, and then I got the request I was expecting but was dreading.

  “Major? Captain Yoshi here. Request permission to move forward and observe the action.”

  I couldn’t really refuse. He was here to observe after all, and it wouldn’t do to insult the courage of the PRC’s representative. “Ok, Aoki, but I want you to stay with Frost’s company. Hook up with his command element, and don’t go any farther forward without checking with me.”

  “Yes major. Thank you, sir.”

  A few seconds later Jax commed me. “Major, I have enemy troops emerging from two, possibly three points. It appears they are coming out of several concrete structures. The bunkers are not large, sir, so my best guess is they are moving up from underground facilities.”

  We expected that most of the installations would be underground. Looks like that hypothesis was panning out. After a brief pause, Jax continued. “I have each company deployed in two lines. SAWs will be emplaced and engaged within 30 seconds. I detached a squad to each flank just in case we get any sallies from the perimeter bunkers to each side.”

  He’d just told me he already did everything I was going to order him to do. “Very well, captain. Outstanding. Carry on.” I moved forward myself. Jax was over on the left, though he was controlling the whole line perfectly. I drifted to the right and moved up to the second infantry line.

  There was still a lot of residual heat, and the snow was being vaporized as it fell. There was a haze from the suddenly gaseous ammonia, but the visibility was significantly better than it had been. I could see the first line, and it looked like they were heavily engaged.

  The fight was nasty, but we had the edge from the beginning. Jax had the troops perfectly deployed, and the enemy was rushing into formation. I figured we’d taken them by surprise with our nukes, and the only way they could stop us from getting to their access points was to come out and fight us on the surface. From my perspective, every one of them we killed up here was one we didn’t have to dig out of some tunnel.

  Jax had the company auto-cannons deployed in the center of each forward line. I ordered up the two heavy battalion auto-cannons from the reserve, positioning one on the extreme right flank and sending the other over to Jax to place wherever he thought he needed it.

  We were definitely getting the better of the fight, but the enemy was still bringing out troops, and the fire was heavy. We were taking considerable losses and, with current conditions, most of them were KIAs. Right now, just about any hole in your armor was enough to kill you.

  I wanted this fight over. I wasn’t going to sit here and wage a battle of attrition where every minor wound was a death sentence. I ordered Frost to move his company over to the extreme right. About five minutes later his people were in position.

  “Frost, we’re going to swing around and hit these guys in the flank as they come forward. I want a section detached to keep those buildings and the immediate area around them under constant grenade attack. Give them something to think about as they are coming up.”

  Frost acknowledged and snapped out orders to one of the sections while I was still on the com.

  “I want the rest of the company to wheel 90 degrees and advance perpendicularly to our line.” I had Hector add Sanchez to the com. He was commanding the company in line on the right. “Sanchez, Frost’s company is going to flank the enemy. I want your people in the first line
to key off their beacon. As they advance across your position move your troops in laterally to fill the holes further down the line. I don’t want any friendly fire incidents. Understood?”

  “Yes sir.” His voice was strong, clear. God, I was proud of these troops. “Understood. Executing now.”

  The heat from the explosions was dissipating. In a few more minutes we’d be back in the middle of the blizzard. I wanted to make the best progress we could while we had relatively good visibility. Frost’s company pivoted around, using the heavy auto-cannon as a hinge. When they were perpendicular to the rest of the line I ordered the auto-cannon redeployed further down. As Frost’s people advanced, Sanchez’ troops moved laterally by fire team, each group repositioning to specific areas at his direction. The shortening of his frontage allowed him to plug the gaps where casualties were heavy without committing the second line. I wanted those reserves kept fresh if possible. I suspected the surface battle was only phase one for us.

  The enemy, disorganized already from trying to form up as they emerged, were caught in the crossfire, and the entire enemy left flank started to disintegrate. These weren’t Janissaries, but they were good troops, and taking prisoners wasn’t exactly feasible under these conditions anyway. As our flanking force advanced, the original line became shorter and denser, and the enemy was caught in a savage crossfire. We were losing some visibility—the ammonia was coming down as rain now—but were hardly needed visibility to rake the enemy with fire.

  Their left flank broke first. It started in small groups, but within a few minutes the entire enemy left was in full flight. I ordered Frost to pursue and prevent them from rallying, and I had Sanchez wheel his company as Frost had done earlier, flanking the enemy right, which was still heavily engaged with my first company. Their captain, Rijis, was down, so Jax took over direct command, and condensed his frontage as Sanchez’s troops advanced laterally.