Incursion
Page 13
“Shoot them at anything that looks unfriendly,” said Ten as he stacked the rifles into his SEV.
“How? You going to get out of an unarmed SEV and stand on the roof, shooting at attack craft with a small arm?” Hunter scoffed.
“Don't be daft,” said Ten, “I'm going to use a rocket launcher. The rifles are just in case we get to board anything. You coming or what?”
Hunter stared at him for a moment, a look of incredulity plainly etched on his face. Then he shrugged and jogged over to the armoury. “All right, fine, but if I get killed doing this, I'm blaming you.”
“Fair enough, if you and your non-backed-up arse die, and get redeployed having lost weeks of memories or months or however long it is since you were last somewhere civilised, I will absolutely bring you up to speed and accept the blame for your untimely demise,” Ten said.
“Damn right you will,” Hunter agreed.
“As long as I get the credit when this moment of tactical genius works and we get to tell the story in the canteen, deal?” Ten said with a wolfish grin.
“Oh yeah, sure, that's the most likely outcome of this venture, you getting to regale the crew with stories of your military prowess rather than the officers delivering a sad speech about how we were suffering from oxygen deprivation due to faulty power armour,” Hunter scoffed sarcastically.
A moment later though, despite Hunter’s scepticism, they were hurtling into space at the maximum acceleration the unarmed SEVs would allow. Hunter continued to mutter and grumble over their buddy comm channel, and Ten just soaked it all in.
“Weapons are active, Raptor teams, let’s see what they throw at us,” said Stansfield.
“That thing reminds me of the Sentinel Mines far too much. I'm really hoping it's not the universe’s largest bomb,” mused Conway.
“Thanks, Conway. That's a thought to give me nightmares for a week,” Kearney replied.
“It could be worse,” said Ten, “there could be five of them spread out in a front for a showdown of epic proportions.”
“Someone likes their maths, that’s for sure,” said Mason. “There’s no doubt that this tech has human origins, but there’s no way that thing is from Sol. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Look alive, Charlie Team, we have incoming,” said Kearney.
“What the hell are they sending at us now?” said Conway.
From their monitoring distance, Charlie Team watched as a circular port opened on the orb, spewed from the depths of the massive ship.
“All Raptor pilots,” said Conway, broadcasting to the team and Vengeance’s Raptor pilots, “be advised we have eyes on the enemy targets. Nature is unknown; they could be missiles, drones or piloted craft. Stay sharp.”
“Like wasps leaving a nest,” said Ten.
“Ten? What the hell are you doing in an SEV?” demanded Conway.
“Sightseeing. The Eagle Nebula is breathtaking this time of year, and the wildlife is fascinating.”
“Stop pissing about,” snapped Conway. “Stay out of the way!”
“We're just here to observe,” Ten lied. Conway didn’t bother to answer.
“Can you see better than us, Vengeance?” said Conway. “What are they, more Sentinel Mines?”
“Negative. I can't say what they are, but the enhanced images are coming in. Sending updates to your HUDs now,” said Fernandez.
“They’re like some kind of mechanoid,” said Mason, peering at his HUD.
Whatever they were, the craft were spewing from the centre of the Firewall Sphere in clusters of ten. As they advanced, and Vengeance trained its most powerful visual sensors on them, the HUD images improved.
Each one was a human-size black Mech, mounted on a circular black disc onto which weaponry was attached. They had gun barrels on the disc, built into their arms and at the sides of their heads. As with the Sentinel Mines, the two red lights showed they were activated and armed.
“They look like they’re surfing in space,” said Ten. “I wouldn’t mind a ride on one of those discs.”
“You might want to return to Vengeance, Hunter, Ten,” said Conway. “I’m not sure I’d fancy my chances fighting those things in an SEV.”
“Opening my SEV,” reported Ten as he activated his helmet. Then he triggered the control and opened the canopy of his vehicle. “Much better,” he muttered, checking that his rifle was secure and ready. He reached down into the confines of the cockpit, pulled something out and waved to Hunter, who was pulling up alongside.
“Good idea,” said Hunter, following suit. “Those things are fast, they’re gonna be hard to shoot.”
The first flash of fire came from the forward cluster of Mechs.
“Contact,” said Kearney.
“Engage the enemy. Fire at will.” The admiral’s orders came so quickly, he must surely have been waiting for it.
“You heard the admiral,” said Conway. “Happy hunting!”
Admiral Stansfield interrupted angrily, “Negative. Belay that sentiment. All hands, I say again, all hands. That Sphere is the enemy, and our intelligence suggests they will give no quarter. I expect every man Jack of you to do your duty. Britain demands it. The Commonwealth expects it. Every Sol government needs it. We will terminate this enemy with extreme prejudice and give no quarter. For Colossus!”
Conway took the initiative. “Roger that, Admiral. Disperse, Raptors, let’s see what these metal-heads have got to throw at us. Look after your wingmen, I don't want any mavericks out here!”
The Raptor pilots drew off and began to target the approaching Mech clusters. The red lights of their armaments started to flash across the dark expanse of space, the Raptor missiles trying to get a fix and find something to shoot at.
In minutes the Mechs had closed on the Raptors and begun their attack.
Conway had noticed the explosion in the distance, but kept her focus on the Mech cluster ahead. Ten of them, swooping in around her, with complete control over movement. She fired missiles – one – two – three – four … and got one hit, sending a Mech exploding into the stars like a bag of nuts and bolts.
She spun her Raptor round to take evasive action. It felt like the Mechs were trying to mob each Raptor rather than take them down like a conventional fighter.
“We’re losing it out here, Admiral. They’re all over us, there are far too many to shoot. Request permission to withdraw? I think we’re going to need to call backup,” Conway said to the bridge team.
“Granted, Conway,” said Stansfield. “What’s your assessment? Dare we send out the HRs?”
“Send out something with a modern Sol signature, something you can stand to lose,” said Conway. “No crew.”
“Agreed,” said Stansfield. “Get back to Davies and finish off that radio link. Let’s have some battery fire on those things.”
As Conway engaged her craft to make the turn, two Mechs struck her Raptor and their discs stuck to the side like limpets. The Mechs climbed off the discs and immediately began cutting into the side of the craft with some kind of circular saw that came out of their hands.
“I’ve got two Mechs on my Raptor, anybody available to help out?” said Conway.
And still the Mechs came, hundreds of them now, a swarm in space.
“Nobody does this shit anymore,” raged Ten as he launched a shoulder-mounted rocket at one of the Mechs on Conway's Raptor as it banked toward him. The missile struck it in the back and detonated, reducing it to a pair of legs that lost their magnetic grip on the Raptor and floated away into space.
Seconds later, Hunter came in below her Raptor, can
opy open, and emptied a full magazine into the second Mech's face, pummelling it into scrap metal.
“Screw you, metal-head,” said Hunter, reloading his weapn as the remains of the Mech tumbled away from the ship.
“Thanks, guys, loving you and leaving you now,” said Conway as she signed off, punching her boosters to return to the launch bay as fast as possible.
Under remote control, the engineering team launched the oldest modern-fitted shuttle they’d got from Colossus before she met her untimely end. The moment it emerged from the shadow of Vengeance, a massive blue beam shot from the Sphere, striking the shuttle amidships. The shuttle exploded and the beam winked out.
sent Hunter.
Attacking the Mechs with Raptors was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut – if the nut was amongst a bunch of other nuts, in mid-air, as they were emptied from a bag.
“Admiral, get the lads out here in SEVs and power armour. Small arms are proving effective. The Mechs want to get in close and go hand to hand for some reason; once they're not moving, a rifle to the face seems to do the job. My rocket launcher has got a few as well,” Ten said as he calmly reloaded his launcher, locked a nearby target and fired.
“What in blazes are you doing out there in an SEV?” Stansfield demanded.
“Improvising, sir,” said Ten as he launched another missile, “Adapting.” He reloaded, locked the closest target he could quickly visualise, and fired. “Overcoming. Happy to listen to other ideas, sir, but we could really do with some support.”
“Roger that. Open SEVs it is,” said Stansfield. “Despatching reinforcements. Raptors stay wide, provide defensive cover.”
“You’ve seen them, yes? These things bleed,” said Hunter.
“I think you mean 'leak,' Hunter. It's just oil and coolant.”
“It was red, I’m telling you,” said Hunter. “There was a big splash of it all over Conway’s Raptor. That’s blood if ever I saw it.”
The Marines were in their element, immersed in a battle that required a bit of strategy and brainpower.
“I’ll take your word for it. Must be some kind of power armour, then. Either way, this anti-vehicle launcher is targeting them just as easily as an APC or a tank,” said Ten. “Okay, we’ve got two clusters heading straight for us. One each? I'll take left.”
“Sure thing, Mr Sharp-Shooter. First to get all ten wins a prize!”
Hunter and Ten dropped back into their SEVs, leaving the canopies open to vacuum. That was the odd thing about space combat; there was nothing out there. An open canopy felt wrong, but there was no wind to tear it away.
They broke to the left and right, outflanking the Mechs. Ten's rocket launcher was useless from within the craft, and he wanted to be able to fight from the cockpit so he could slip away if they swarmed him. He pulled out a bog-standard firearm instead, and Hunter grabbed a carbine.
With their canopies open, the two troopers had a good field of fire, but the Mechs swarmed like a cloud of angry mosquitos, gathering in the dark.
“That's three,” said Hunter. “Changing location.” He dropped back down into the cockpit and punched the booster, forcing the advancing Mechs to change course. They were nimble, but their acceleration couldn't match the SEVs’.
“Six,” replied Ten. “I won't need to move. Seven.”
“Fuck off! Four. How have you got seven already?”
“Because I'm not just better-looking than you, mate, I'm older and wiser to boot.”
“Old is right, grandad,” said Hunter, “and that’s six.”
“That's what your mum said. Nine.”
“Oh, come on!”
“And that’s ten, I'm done.”
Hunter growled in frustration and finished off the seventh of his targets. Then Ten's SEV pulled alongside as the final three Mechs closed on Hunter’s SEV.
Ten clambered onto the nose of his SEV, his power armour’s magnetically-soled boots clamping to the frame of the exploration vehicle. In his arms he cradled a hefty-looking machine gun.
“What the fuck is that?” Hunter yelled as he punched his arm into the face of a Mech wielding a vicious circular saw.
Ten's gun flashed twice, sending short bursts into the other two Mechs and knocking them physically off Hunter's SEV. He followed up with more bursts once they’d drifted clear, reducing them to clouds of bloody metal and ensuring they wouldn't find their way back to do any harm.
“This, my son, is a .50 calibre Bren 2400. It's a successor to the old WW2 gun, if only spiritually,” Ten replied. “Found it in a dusty box in Vengeance’s armoury.”
Hunter was still struggling with the last Mech, but he seemed to have the upper hand. The Mech’s sawblade floated free, and Hunter had it off balance. He grabbed it under the chin, wrenching it around in something that looked like an homage to a Judo throw, and broke its neck. He flung it away into space and stood there on top of his SEV, gasping for breath within his suit.
“Nicely done,” said Ten. “I thought for a moment you were going to introduce it to your pleasure hand.” He made an obscene gesture.
“That's cheating,” said Hunter, ignoring Ten’s insults and pointing at the machine gun.
“Yeah, well, I told you to tool up. Not my fault if your generation doesn't know what that means. What are they teaching you guys these days? Do I need to go back to teach a refresher course?”
Ten reached down into his cockpit and calmly began reloading his weapons, including the three rifles rifles he'd emptied while Hunter wasn't looking.
“For future reference, mate, in space no-one can hear you shoot,” Ten went on, clearly not finished dispensing advice. “Grab the biggest gun you can and fuck up the enemy before he tears you a tiny, tiny hole in your powered armour and your balls freeze into little olive-sized ice cubes too small to chill a martini, okay? Don't ponce about with a carbine trying to be subtle. Stealth out here is all about light, not sound. Except for walking on the hull of a ship, that's a right bastard to do quietly. Magnetic boots clang something fierce from the inside of a ship.”
Hunter thought about that as he reloaded his weapon. Then he realised what had been niggling him. “Hang on, what do you mean, ‘go back’? You're just a bootneck, right?”
Ten turned to stare at him, and even through the opaque helmet visor Hunter could sense the coldness. It sent a chill down the back of his neck.
“Yeah. That's right, kid, I'm just a bootneck,” said Ten in a dead tone. “Don't go letting your head get too big for your diving helmet just because you made it into the SBS, okay?”
Ten fired a few bursts from his machine gun with no apparent effect. Even the closest Mechs were too far away.
“Look, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant it sounded like you weren't always a Marine,” said Hunter.
“Of course I wasn't. I went to school, just like everyone else.”
Hunter wasn't amused. “Fine, be like that. I'll just look at your file when we're back on Vengeance.”
Ten snorted. “You go right ahead, sonny. But I'd be surprised if you've got clearance to see the files, let alone access their contents.”
Something about his tone stopped Hunter from making a snarky comment. “Bloody hell, what did you do to end up with this sentence?”
“Oh, now that’s definitely
above your pay grade. Time to focus on the job. You’ve got some work to do if you want to even the score. Here, you want to try this?” Ten asked, holding up the rocket launcher.
“Sure,” said Hunter, taking the launcher, “but I'd rather try the machine gun.”
“Yeah, not today. This is a proper antique, mate. Needs careful handling.”
“Oh, right, just your speed then,” Hunter smirked. “Let's get stuck in.”
“This is useless,” muttered Ten a few minutes later. “There are too many of them.” He watched the Mechs gathering, all staring at the dark, distant hulk that was Vengeance.
He and Hunter had done some damage. Their technique of opening up a swarm with the rocket launcher and then finishing them off with the Bren gun worked, but it was far too slow.
Even though they'd been joined by the rest of Charlie Team and a squad of Vernon’s Marines, they weren’t making any progess. A complement of boarding-action trained crew members had joined them as well, but it still wasn't going as well as they'd like.
And then, glancing around, Ten saw something he wasn’t sure anyone else had noticed.
“Oh, shit,” he said quietly as he realised what was happening. He flipped into Vengeance’s bridge comms channel.
“Marine X,” acknowledged Commander Vernon. “Report.”
“An observation, sir,” said the Penal Marine. “These Mechs are built for close-quarter fighting. Out there it makes no sense, but they’re a swarm, like locusts.”
“Locusts?” muttered Hunter. “What the fuck are locusts?”
Ten ignored him as the certainty of his insight grew, “The Mechs are equipped with short-range anti-personnel weaponry and cutting equipment. It's unconventional, but they tore through the Raptors once they got close.”
“And your point is?” said Admiral Stansfield, breaking into the conversation.
“They’re not trying to destroy Vengeance, sir,” said Ten quietly. “They’re trying to capture her.”
“Capture?” hissed Stansfield.
“They know we’re here,” said Ten. “If they wanted to destroy Vengeance, they’d use the blue beam of death. Deploying the Mechs makes sense only if they plan to board. For all we know, they have racks full of perfectly good railguns they didn't bring with them. They didn't come to shoot us down, they came to take prisoners.”