Smoke on the Wind

by Sean Benjamin

  Raferty Hawkins followed Brigadier Dunwater to the nearest opening to the underground. The military leader carried his comm unit strapped to his side and was surrounded by aides providing constant updates and three runners who would carry critical messages if the comm went down. The three landing zones were chosen because they were near portals to the underground portion of the base and the command party quickly arrived at the nearby entrance.

  Hawkins was content to follow along while staying out of the commander’s way. The man had enough to do without having to babysit him. Raferty carried an assault laser rifle slung over his left shoulder and his sidearm on his hip. He had picked up three grenades and stuffed them in pockets.

  The command group followed a squad through two large doors and down a flight of stairs. Lights illuminated the short tunnel leading to a large room filled with supplies laid out in long, neat rows. Several marines were already moving down the rows, and the newly arrived squad provided overwatch from the near end. The muted noise from the battle on the surface filtered down to the underground attackers as they moved steadily forward, each man with his rifle in his shoulder and aiming it ahead of him. The immediate area was surprisingly quiet as the Royal Marines moved steadily forward and contact was not yet made with an enemy.

  A volley of rifle shots broke the spell. An answering volley was delivered in response, and the battle was joined. The firefight had broken out at the far corner. Hawkins suspected there was a door there and the OrCons had set up to provide a brief defense and then would retreat to the next room. The firing quickly died down and nobody in the immediate vicinity was engaged. Two explosions happened near the firefight. Dunwater stopped and listened through an earpiece in his right ear. He turned to Hawkins. “We just blew the doors at the far end. A little spat before that. Two of my men wounded. No confirmed enemy dead.”

  Hawkins nodded and the group pressed on.

  ~ ~ ~

  Tactical scanned the screen showing the surface fight. The bombardment from orbit continued to slowly work its way across the base, staying just in front of the advancing ground troops. The marines were moving quickly. It was clear the OrCons had no real ground units on the base but were trying to stem the advancing Zekes with whoever was available and could hold a weapon. Tactical smiled grimly. She wished them good luck with that. She noted with satisfaction the performance of the armed pirate shuttles. They darted among the base structures and provided cannon fire as needed to support the advance. Tactical had briefly listened in on the tac freq to the communication between the marines and the pirates in the shuttles. Despite a lack of training together and the short prep time, the coordination was going well.

  Tactical leaned back in her chair and switched to monitoring the space fighting. Captain Alistair Bond was running that show under the direction of Admiral Levant. Tactical was well aware of the tenuous nature of her place in the chain of command so was quite content to let the Zekes run the plan. She silently watched and listened.

  An ops officer seated next to Tactical reported, “Brigadier Dunwater is out of comm, but one of his runners posted at the underground entrance reports all is proceeding underground.”

  Admiral Levant nodded. “Very well.” He turned to Bond and his OpsO responded to the look with a report. “We have neutralized the closest space defenses and hitting those further out. Murray and her two escorts should be below the little moon any second.”

  As if on cue, the heavy cruiser Murray with Fremont and Livingston shimmered into normal space below the little moon. They quickly disappeared as they moved up on the far side. Three Zeke destroyers broke ranks with the fleet and raced toward the top of the little moon to drop down the far side from above and ensure a chase around the bleak little globe did not develop. The little moon would block any comm so the fight, if there was one, would be done before word would get back to the flagship. The destroyers topped the moon and immediately began shooting at targets on the other side as they crossed over the moon and disappeared. Six Royal Navy ships were now engaged with two OrCon vessels.

  The flag staff quickly moved their attention back to the main battle of reducing the base. One operations officer monitored the moon fight while Tactical kept pace with the ground assault. The fleet ships shooting up the defenses did their job well. Every floater was now drifting silently, and the majority if the defenses on the surface had been beaten into submission. The occasional round of incoming fire quickly drew a multiple ship response. The barrage supporting the ground assault continued to work its way across the base just ahead of the advancing troops.

  One Zeke destroyer reappeared from the far side of the little moon. A few seconds later, the ops officer monitoring that situation reported, “Murray and her two companions caught a light cruiser and destroyer by surprise. The OrCons ran, but our three ships pursued and the two enemy ships were hit repeatedly. The three destroyers added to the firepower and the two OrCon ships were knocked out. They are drifting with escape pods coming off both.” The ops officer paused as he listened and then added, “Do we want to take the pods in as prisoners?”

  Admiral Levant broke in on the conversation from his command chair. “I’ll take it.” He punched one of his command screens to get up the correct frequency and then put an earpiece in his ear so nobody would hear the other end of the conversation he was about to have with the destroyer captain. He spoke sharply. “Captain, were you at Hartley for the command brief for this mission?” A pause and then he said, “Do you recall the part about no prisoners would be taken here, and we will leave all escape pods alone?” Another short pause and then Levant’s voice rose in volume as he continued. “Then why the hell are you jamming up the command net asking questions you already know the answers to? If your mission is done, get your ass back into position with the fleet.”

  Levant tapped the floating screen to break the connection as people on the flag bridge stared at him. Levant dressing down someone in public had never happened before. Everyone was silent as Captain Bond moved to the side of the Admiral. They had served together in various assignments for years. Bond smiled down at his friend and commander. “Still pissed off over the little mutiny at the Hartley brief, aren’t you?”

  Levant looked up and gave a small smile. “Yes, I still am.” He turned his chair to face Tactical. “If Raferty had shot those two prima donna captains who quit in protest, that would have been fine by me. All the ship captains in the two private squadrons were not selected for their command due to their experience and skills but by family influence and Lord Cunningham’s whim. Most of them are useless, and they know it. I expect they are sweating now as they know they have lost their protection from Lord Cunningham and their respective squadron admiral.”

  Tactical nodded and asked, “That destroyer is from one of the private squadrons?”

  Levant now nodded. “Whipstaff out of the Hounds from Hell.” He paused and then added. “I shouldn’t get all worked up over it. After we win, the CME will do a general housecleaning. Most of those captains are down to single digits in days left on their command time.”

  Tactical smiled slightly and nodded. She then said, “In Flot 1, we have a more direct approach. We make command adjustments by killing people.”

  Levant smiled back at her. “It does have the beauty of being simple and direct.”

  Tactical added, “Saves on the admin paperwork too.”

  Levant’s smile broadened. “Another plus.” He turned his chair back around.

  Chapter 28

  It turned out that the underground facility was divided into large, rectangular rooms with multiple large doors at each end which allowed passage from one end to the other end of the entire facility. The underground fight through this structure was moving at a rapid pace because the enemy was putting up resistance only at the end of each compartment and then ducking into the next room to avoid a prolonged skirmish. Rounds would come toward the invaders for a few seconds, and then the sound of running feet could be heard
as the defenders retreated. It was frustrating for the attackers as they took casualties without dealing out punishment in return. Brigadier Dunwater was unconcerned. He had continuous runners going back to openings and returning with updates on the surface battle. As he expected, the surface battle was moving at a faster pace than his own particular fight, and the surface forces had orders to destroy or guard every entrance to the underground that they came across. When they reached the far end, they would seal off all avenues of retreat and simply wait for the underground enemy forces to retreat right into them. Dunwater didn’t want the surface marines to come into the underground from the other end. If he allowed that he knew the power could go off at an inopportune time, and the two friendly forces moving toward each other would probably get into a firefight in the dark. That was a worst-case scenario, so that is probably exactly what would happen. He had to ensure it didn’t.

  The Royal Marines continued to push on as Dunwater, his staff, and Hawkins trailed by a few steps. Dunwater listened on his comm set to the underground fight as the runners relayed all updates from above to him. He turned to Raferty. “The first medevac shuttles are pushing off now in case you want to move back to the entrance. I’ll send a runner with you.”

  Hawkins shook his head. “Admiral Levant knows how to run the war upstairs. I’ll think I’ll change the plan and hang with you if permissible.”

  Dunwater nodded with a slightly surprised expression. “Of course, Your Grace.” Rafe didn’t know whether Dunwater was surprised he was staying or was surprised he was asking for permission to stay. Hawkins let the question go as Dunwater went back to running his corner of this war.

  The marines were moving in a rough line through the large chambers and the enemy was keeping up a steady retreat. Other marines were also dropping off explosives at regular intervals and placing them against fuel tanks, large stockpiles of ship’s ordnance, and main support pillars. These marines would retrace their steps once the battle was complete and activate the timers on select pieces of explosives. The few explosions would set off a great many sympathetic explosions which should collapse or otherwise render the entire underground system and everything in it useless.

  Minutes ticked by as the Royal Marines kept on the offense. Suddenly, a hail of fire erupted from in front of them. Marines went down for cover and scanned the area, but it soon became clear the fire was not directed at them. The retreating enemy had reached the far end of the underground facility and run into the marines from above who now had control of the exits there. The marines from above wasted no time in pouring fire onto the surprised OrCons who had run up to the exits so were easy targets. Over twenty security people were cut down in ten seconds as the OrCons at the back of the retreat now jumped behind whatever cover was available. The underground marines closed on the position, and the Orion defenders were caught between the two groups. Withering fire came at them from two directions.

  Rafe unslung his rifle and passed the Brigadier. “I think I’ll have a look,” he said as he moved toward the sound of the fighting. One runner quickly closed up beside him. Rafe had a bodyguard whether he wanted one or not. The two men joined the line of marines behind various types of cover as they engaged the enemy. Hawkins quickly added his rifle fire to the attack. The marines leapfrogged each other as they moved in on the last elements of resistance. Raferty joined in and moved with his group. He threw his grenades as he maneuvered and fired on any likely OrCon position. The enemy was methodically being eliminated from two directions.

  “Hold fire!” came a call from the OrCon ranks. The firing slowly died off, and a silence drifted over the battle zone.

  “What are your terms?” the same voice called out.

  Marines within Raferty’s view turned to glance at him. Although involved in the fighting, all the marines had noted when the pirate leader joined them, and they were now yielding de facto command to the Duke.

  Rafe called out, “You surrender now and we will disarm you and put you in a corner. You will not go with us as prisoners. You get cute, we kill every one of you.”

  There was a pause and the enemy voice said, “Done.” It was spoken hurriedly and with distaste, but the man was smart enough to know there was no other way out and this was the best deal he would get. Weapons started to be tossed out from hiding places. The weapons were followed by men, and a few women, with hands raised high. They eyed their captors with suspicion and a little fear. The marines stood up and two sergeants took charge. The OrCons were searched and then herded toward the exits covered by the surface marines. Once outside, they would be put in a building and left behind.

  Hawkins rejoined the command group. Brigadier Dunwater smiled at him. “Enjoy the experience?”

  Raferty smiled. “Yes, the last ground assault I was in was six weeks ago. I was wounded and needed thigh muscle replacement so this turned out much better.”

  Dunwater winced. “I assume no drugs were used during the attachment process.”

  Rafe nodded and Dunwater said, “Ouch.” Hawkins smiled. He liked Dunwater very much.

  The command group exited the underground while assigned marines went back through the underground and activated all the explosives with a thirty-minute delay. Shuttles began to land and redeployment to the ships began.

  Chapter 29

  The space fight above the surface base continued as the attackers pounded defenses into submission and hit surface targets outside the base. Power stations, road infrastructure, and comm towers were all destroyed from above. The base was fifty kilometers from the nearest civilian centers so targeting was made easy as everything nearby was a viable target. All harbor floaters and the little moon defenses had been silenced. The three ships that had escaped to the far side of the planet had occasionally popped up to fire at the Royal Navy ships and then had ducked back down behind the planet. Admiral Levant directed ships to intercept the incoming missiles but did not send any ships to the other side of the planet as he didn’t want to engage the big moon or chase the three ships out into open space. The small number of Orion ship missiles were little more than a nuisance and could be easily intercepted. Of course, everyone knew the three ships would follow the Royal Navy when they departed. There was nothing to be done about that.

  Tactical reported from her operations station. “All medevacs from our three original LZs are complete. All return shuttles will be coming from the other side of the base where our forces ended up. Initial reports are forty-seven dead and sixty-five wounded.”

  Admiral Levant nodded. Twenty of the dead would be the shuttle lost due to a direct hit. Other than that bad luck, the attack went surprisingly well. Of course, Royal Marines matched against security forces meant the issue was never in doubt. The only variable was the price to be paid. Levant softly said, “The Royal Marines did well in their first major battle. It is clear we have been misusing them until now. That will have to change.” Several heads among his flag staff nodded. The marines would ensure the destruction of the base was complete and prove the ground assault concept was viable. Now the OrCons would be forced to reconsider their base security requirements and defensive plans.

  The ships had turned their attention and weapons to the space harbor infrastructure. Floating docks, repair berths, tool lockers, and supply reload points were pounded into junk. All space tugs and powered cargo beds were hit repeatedly by gunfire. Every piece of harbor equipment was systematically rendered useless. The resurrection of this base by the OrCons would have to be done from nothing. Building anything from nothing takes valuable time and valuable resources.

  The Royal Navy fleet had taken minor damage to several ships but lost none in the battle. Base defenses were always built with the assumption there would be friendly ships supporting the defense. If not, bases were open to attack from any passing fleet. This particular passing fleet now began to depart in formation while dealing final blows to Orion base. They sped toward the minefield and blasted their way through. The three Orion ships fr
om the far side of the planet followed them one hour later. They would provide continuous updates on the Zeke position.

  Hawkins looked at Tactical. “How far is the OrCon force behind us?” He asked a question that he already knew the answer to, but Tactical humored him. “Six hours to the Metal Moon. They would have been there when they got the word of our presence at the minefield. They head back immediately. It took us an hour to get to the Rurik base. That puts them five hours in trail. We did the attack in just over two hours. That puts them less than three hours away. I’m ignoring the time lag in the message getting to them so we gain some time there. We will gain more time as we are slightly faster, but they will run with us all the way to the border.” Hawkins nodded. “Just the way I figure it.”

  Chapter 30

  Admiral Dabria Kasyanov sat in her command chair as she watched the tactical situation on her screens. The bad part of that was the tactical situation was unchanged and, frankly, quite boring. The fleeing Zeke ships had allowed her force to close to within an hour and then had sped up slightly to match her speed. They had changed course to put her dead astern and were now racing toward the border and there was not a hell of a lot she could do about it. She was convinced they were a deep probe reconning Orion defenses or were raiders looking for easy targets. Since the Zekes had not accomplished anything in the way of destruction or disruption, Kasyanov figured her side could claim some success regarding this mission. Of course, engaging the Zekes in combat and destroying them was preferable, but you take what you can get. She had already decided she would chase them to the border and call it a win. She had considered pursuing them beyond that but decided against it. Intel reports told of multiple ships movements at Wanderlust and nobody knew where those ships were right now. They could be in subspace at the border waiting for her. She doubted it, but she did have pickets on each flank, and all ships working their white phones. She mentally shrugged. She would endure another twenty-four standard hours of chasing these ships and then head for home.