by J. L. Curtis
Listening to the troop channel, he heard Grayson berating one of the troops, “Dammit Richie, why did you have to get a damn leg blown off again? You just like making me carry you, don’t ya? Smitty, you ain’t dyin’ yet. I’ll get to you, you still owe me money from that three-D chess match. I’m overriding your medpack remotely. You just stay still.”
Fargo only saw one flashing red beacon, but there were at least four yellow to orange beacons scattered around the bowl. As Shar, Bahn, Ganju, and Kulbir streamed into Fargo’s position, he saw Ward’s beacon take off for the far wall of the bowl, in pursuit of a hostile.
They heard an anguished voice on the troop’s channel yell, “Major, Major, wait!”
Ward’s response chilled him, “I’ve got this. It’s only one Goon. I don’t need any help.” Fargo shook his head inside his armor, knowing this wasn’t going to end well.
“Shar, Bahn, can you help the medic? Ganju, Kulbir on me, let’s support the major.”
Shar and Bahn immediately moved toward Grayson as Fargo and the other scouts bounded after Ward. Fargo dimly heard Garibaldi over the troop channel say tiredly, “Bravo squad on the major, please. Do not let him get killed.”
Fargo saw Ward disappear into what appeared to be a cave opening and grounded quickly. “Ward, you need to get out of there. They like to booby…”
A rumbling, ground shaking sensation was followed by Fargo’s HUD blanking once again. He felt himself flying through the air, the suit trying to stabilize his flight until he slammed into one of the rockets. Stunned, his armor in a crouch, he tried to place what had happened.
A cacophony of alarms, screams, and voices sounded over the various circuits, as he slowly focused on his HUD. Shaking his head, he saw radiation alarms, chem-bio alarms, and his medpack showing slightly yellow, as it pushed meds for the cracked ribs he noticed when he tried to take a deep breath.
Tonguing all but the scout channel off, he called, “Scouts, report?”
He relaxed when all four reported in, and Ganju asked, “Where are you sir?”
Fargo went to ping his location, but realized his HUD was offline, either due to damage or his toggling a reset inadvertently. Patiently he waited until it came back online, pinged his locator, and replied, “Over by the first ship. I’m mobile, I think.”
Kulbir found him first, whistling when he saw the damage to the armor, “First layer ablation, twenty-mil is gone completely, along with your funny gun. All your aux packs are gone too. You must have been directly in the blast pattern!”
Fargo moved his legs to straighten the armor up, and it responded slowly, but with more pressure alarms as the AI continued listing the suit’s problems. He said, “Okay, Cindy, got it.” Kulbir said, “You’re upright, and the captain wants you on the troop channel.”
Fargo tongued the other comms channels back on and replied, “Captain, Fargo here. You wanted to talk to me?”
Garibaldi said, “Yeah, I’m calling this place secure. Rather than jump back up to the shuttle, I want to ground it. I’ve got injured troops, no thanks to the major’s actions. I figure we’ve got enough room to land her in the north end of the bowl if she’s capable of a hover landing. I’ve got troops searching for intel, but the sooner we get the shuttle down, the sooner I get my folks treated. Can you call her in?”
Fargo replied, “Will do. Break. Hyderabad on command channel, over.”
Captain Jace answered quickly, “I heard, Fargo. We are descending now. I will land with the stern ramp pointed at the rockets. FYI, the rocket near your position is leaning and has damage to two of its outriggers. Based on the radiation and chem-bio alarms we are seeing up here, we will set up a decontamination station off the aft ramp.”
“Roger all, Captain. We’re not going anywhere.”
Flipping over to the troop channel, Fargo said, “Shuttle on the way, decon prior to boarding. Aft ramp only.”
After Action
Grayson, Shar, and Bahn had two suits between them, plus one more on the grav sled, waiting as COS quickly set up the portable tunnel and decontamination unit twenty feet from the aft ramp. As he walked backward toward the ramp, spraying the inside of the tunnel, Wallace keyed up on all channels, “Okay, here’s how we’re going to do this. Thirty second decon, standard NBC procedure, air barrier is on. You mutts know the drill. Once you’re in, shut down cameras unless you want them burned out. Medic first, triage plan next, one and only one officer across, then troops. Dead and Intel will be recovered last. Intel will be placed in decon unit until transfer to GalPat. Am I clear?”
A muttered chorus of “Clear, yes sir. Copied all, sir,” sounded over the channels as Grayson stepped into the unit.
Clearing it he said, “Grav sled next.” Shar nudged it forward into the unit, and Grayson continued, “Okay Mikey, gotta shut your cameras down, you’re not dying on me. Hang in there for thirty, okay?” Nodding to Wallace to key the sequence, he fidgeted until the unit opened, and Greyson could reach in and pull the sled through.
Shar and Bahn helped the next suit of armor into the unit and stepped back as Grayson hurried up the ramp, grav sled in tow. Fargo shook his head as Grayson continued a soothing patter, wondering if he ever shut up.
Grayson brought the second suit out on autonomous control, as Shar and Bahn helped the third suit into decon. They stepped out of line as Fargo and Garibaldi turned away and started toward the chief sergeant with the first body. Garibaldi keyed his mic, “Lieutenant Ballard, go on through. Grayson could use the help.”
Fargo heard a subdued, “Roger,” as a command suit stepped to the front of the line.
The four scouts joined Fargo as they searched for the remaining two suits that had redlined, finding one almost cut in two by the plasma cannon, and the final suit underneath a chunk of the cliff that had blown out. By the time they’d dug the last suit out, Fargo’s armor was bleating a steady alarm on hydraulics, and he was getting nauseous from the drug push.
The chief sergeant came back with the grav sled, where they reverently placed the final suit of armor on it, then followed it solemnly back to the shuttle. No attempt was made to find Ward’s armor, knowing it was almost surely disintegrated by the force of what had to be a fusion blast, or the mountain falling on it. Even the emergency beacon was dead, and they were supposedly indestructible.
Garibaldi and Fargo were the last two aboard, as Hand cut the decon unit free, and raised the aft ramp, “Clear to maneuver, Captain.”
Jace’s voice came back, “Roger, lifting. Would the senior GalPat officer and Captain Fargo please meet me in the mess as soon as possible?”
Fargo groaned as he climbed out of his armor, feeling the pharmacope hit him again with numbing nanos. Garibaldi walked over, “You know where we need to go?”
“Yeah, follow me. Sorry about the major.”
Garibaldi shrugged, “He did it to himself. At least he didn’t take any troops with him.”
Fargo led them to the mess, where Captain Jace waited, “I’ve got an idea how to destroy the outpost, which was, I believe, part of your tasking.”
Garibaldi cocked his head, “How? I don’t want…”
“Simple, I can use a laser to burn the other support leg on the first ship, and make it fall into the second one, then I can use the laser to blow a fusion bottle. It’ll be fairly clean, and the bowl will contain the blast effect, maybe cause a small earthquake, but with the prevailing winds, no radiation that escapes will impact any populated areas.”
Garibaldi looked at Fargo, “It’s your world. What do you think?”
Fargo said, “Well, that would obliterate the remnants of the battle, make it look like they had a problem, and wipe out any possible survivors. Plus it’d turn the bowl into what will probably be nice lake in a few dozen years. I’d say do it.”
Garibaldi grinned, “The major didn’t tell me what his plan was, but don’t we need to get authorization? I mean that’s a kinda big decision for a lowly captain to make. If it was
up to me, I’d do it. And even better, I don’t have to put anybody back on the ground.”
Captain Jace grinned ferally, “Consider it done. Y’all go take care of your troops, I’ll handle it from here.”
***
Captain Jace returned to the bridge, smiling at Colonel Randall, “Well, your Captain Garibaldi says do it. Do I have your permission?”
Nan Randall matched his expression, “Please do, Captain. It will be a fitting tribute to Major Ward if they would name the lake after him.”
“Weaps, status?” Captain Jace asked.
Liz answered, “Board is active. Anterior laser still deployed.” Looking at her screens she continued, “Exciters preloaded, super caps ready, power shunt standing by to deliver required power.”
Captain Jace placed a carat over the strut he wanted to hit, “Evie, please rotate to two-two-eight, down eighteen.”
Evie spun the ship, “Steady as she goes, Captain.”
Captain Jace said calmly, “Weaps, it’s all yours fire at will, target carat, stand by for secondary target.”
As the countdown hit zero, Liz said, “Lasers firing.” Everyone on board heard a groaning sound increase in pitch, rising to nearly a scream, and a mechanical voice continued, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Cease fire.” There was a ‘ting’, the loud noises stopped almost immediately and the cameras showed the first ship slowly collapsing into the second, which tipped even more slowly.
Captain Jace switched the carat to the stern of the falling ship, “Target carat, fire at will. Full power.”
Liz said, “Lasers firing.” Everyone on board heard a groaning sound increase in pitch again, rising to nearly a scream, and a mechanical voice continued, “9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,” the screens bloomed with an actinic glare, and the Hyderabad trembled violently as the voice reached 1. “Cease fire.” There was a ‘ting’ as the ship rose like an elevator and the screens came back to life, showing a massive explosion, and flame reaching thousands of feet in the air.
Captain Jace chuckled, “Well, I’m guessing that is going to get some people’s attention.” He keyed the IC, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Dragoon outpost has been destroyed.” Everyone on the bridge heard the cheering that arose from the cargo deck, and Colonel Randall smiled at the Captain, giving him a thumbs up.
***
The Hyderabad grounded near the back gate to the spaceport just after five. It was still dark as Fargo limped down the aft ramp. Nicole gave him a salute as she looked closely at him, “How bad?”
He started to shrug, then winced, “Ribs. Here’s the data from my armor.” Handing her four more chips he said, “And these are from the others. We didn’t lose anybody, but the troopers lost one … Two… dead, including the major. Three wounded, the medic is handling them in their armor.”
The cargo deck slowly emptied out as the weary troops offloaded after they had passed their wounded, and the one dead troop out. COS Hand was amazingly gentle with each of the troops as they left, quietly cleaning up after them. Colonel Randall went out a forward hatch, disappearing unseen into the darkness, as she loped across the ramp toward the assault shuttle, still parked in front of the administration building.
***
Nicole called, “Attention on deck,” as a very nervous Colonel Cameron came into the conference room, followed by Colonels Keads and Randall.
He looked around and finally said, “Seats.” The three colonels took seats at the head of the table while Captain Jace, Evie, Fargo, and Captain Garibaldi took seats at the far end. Warrant Boykin slipped into a seat on the wall, followed by COS Hand and his wife, standing partially hidden in a small group of chief sergeants and master sergeants, behind Cameron and the other colonels. Fargo just shook his head, then watched the tired young GalPat lieutenant who stood silently at the middle of the table, waiting. Finally, Colonel Cameron glanced at him, “You may begin.”
The lieutenant started with the standard clearance requirements, confirmed that everyone in the room had been a participant in the action, and brought up the earlier intel data that Captain Jace had provided, although he credited that to GalPat. Walking through it, he next stepped to the intel provided by Fargo and the scouts, and actually did credit the militia with collecting it.
Moving to the actual assault, he started with jamming by Hyderabad, then moved to the drop and video from various armor, along with the initial actions by the scouts to kill the sensors and tight beam laser. As he stepped through each piece of action, Fargo’s mind drifted. Heh, cheated death again. Brought all our folks back in one piece. Can’t figure what Ward was trying… Nicole looks as tired as I feel. Wonder how long it took them to put this together? Nan looks nice and fresh. I’m betting the troops have no idea she observed the entire op. Hard to believe she’s a colonel, but the cream always rises…
He jerked back to attention when the lieutenant said, “And this is what the outpost looked like as of two hours ago.” The holo showed a glassine bowl, some smoke rising from something burning in the vicinity of the two ships, and some fires along the top of the cliff and ridges surrounding the bowl. “We believe there is no danger to the forest, the fires should burn out within a day.
Changing the display, he continued, “This is the wind vector from the location, along with the radiation pattern. Of note, there is no significant radiation extent beyond ten miles.”
Another view swam into the holo, “These are the reports received by various organizations and agencies last night and this morning, including the earthquake calls, the explosions and the lights in the sky. GalPat Det Hunter has handled all those at the local levels, but expect word to spread that something happened.”
This time, the holo showed the bowl with range circles, “Due to the remoteness of the location, we do not expect anyone to actively go searching for this place, but the possibility exists for stumble on, as more colonists arrive.” He turned to Nicole, “Chief Sergeant.”
Nicole stepped forward, “Colonels, Captain, ladies and gentle beings. This concludes the planetary end of the briefing. I will be briefing you on the off planet pieces of the puzzle we have located. Once again, the holo reverted to the original track information. “These are the original tracks inbound to the Dragoon’s outpost, emerging from deep space beyond the frontier. Taking the azimuth and elevation of the tight beam laser at the site, in conjunction with these tracks, GPV Harmony did a set of micro jumps out two light years down this line.”
For the first time, Colonel Cameron interrupted, “GPV Harmony?”
“Yes, sir. She’s a brand new destroyer 512 class ship. This is her first deployment. At approximately one light year out, she encountered a repeater, at this location.”
The holo zoomed in on an oddly shaped satellite, “This is definitely not GalPat, or commercial equipment. It is a forty-five degree collector/transmitter on our side, and a seventy degree collector/transmitter on the far side. Two of the ship’s intel team did an EVA to examine it, and determine its secondary directivity. That was calculated at three-zero-two, up twenty-two. They also installed a FTL capture unit to replicate any data received from either direction, which will be received at Star Center.
Colonel Cameron asked sharply, “So nothing traces back to here?”
Nicole looked at the lieutenant, then replied, “No, sir. Nothing tracks back here. As far as Intel is concerned, the planet Hunter knows nothing and saw nothing.”
Cameron said, “Then why are we getting a company of troops dropped here?”
Colonel Randall replied, “It’s our policy to spread the troops around and get them some dirt time when we can. We’ve dropped four Dets, so far, and I expect we will drop at least three or four more. As far as GalPat policy is concerned, this is also a ‘show the flag mission’ to let the Traders and Goons know we are not going to cede the Rimworlds to them lightly.”
“Since I’m talking, I’d also like to thank both the captain and crew of the Hyderabad for their excellent work in delivering our troops and get
ting them out of a hot zone with minimal issues. Also, the local militia, for their coordination of the raid, the intelligence provided, and the support this morning. Their participation was critical to stopping any message of the attack getting out. Based on other intelligence, it was determined that the Traders were planning on launching one ship just before sunrise, so it is very possible that the attack won’t even be noted.”
Colonel Cameron stood up, “Thank you all. Dismissed.” He didn’t wait for anyone to call attention, as he walked out of the room.
Colonel Keads rolled his eyes and followed him quickly, as Colonel Randall stepped over to talk to Captain Garibaldi.
Fargo looked around, seeing Nicole deep in conversation with the GalPat lieutenant, he slipped quietly out the side door, heading for his liteflyer.
Stolen Time
Nan Randall had shown up, unannounced, dropped off by a GalPat shuttle the previous afternoon. She’d used the excuse of wanting some quiet time, and a chance to talk to Fargo.
They’d spent the afternoon and evening rehashing the entire assault, picking it apart and discussing how it could have been done better. That had segued into catching up with each other’s careers, until Nan finally said, “I need some sleep. This has been a long week.”
Fargo showed her to the spare bedroom, reminding her to lock the door to keep Cattus and Canis out. She joked, “And you too?”
He laughed, “Yeah, me too.” I’m involved with Nicole, and I’m not going to screw that up. As much as I’d like… Nope, not going there.
Nan rolled up on her elbow as Fargo knocked on the door, “Coffee?”
She groaned, “I’m barely awake. Let me run through the fresher, but coffee sounds good!”
An hour later, they sat at the table in the kitchen as Fargo fixed them both a real cup of coffee.
Nan was besieged by Canis and Cattus, one on each side demanding attention, and she laughed as she petted them, “I can’t believe these are really wild animals! They seem so cuddly and sweet.”