The T’Kab front line appeared to be faltering. The increasing firepower of artillery, 1st of the 22nd Marines, and Mary’s surprise rounds were taking their toll, as was the ever-increasing carpet of dead T’Kab those coming forward had to negotiate to move ahead. In spite of the devastation, the swarm had finally reached the fence line and started tearing it down. Mary’s Special Support Company commander hit a button on his command tablet and a wall of flame exploded into the breaching party and roasted nearly 50 T’Kab, but even this did not stop them.
Another party arrived at the fence and started to tear it down. A few T’Kab broke through and raced for the mortar pit. The heavy machine gun on the mortar team’s X-55 stopped that assault in its tracks. Heavy fire concentrated on the fence line built up an ever-higher wall of dead T’Kab, until they could just crawl over the bodies stacked against the fence like a ramp. As they dropped over the fence into the area between the fence and the strung out tangle wire, Mary pointed to her Special Support Company commander and he pushed a second button on his command tablet. Another wall of flame erupted, but this one stuck to the attackers. It was an ancient mixture called jellied fuel that the Special Support Company whipped up from some hydrocarbon fuel found in transporters around the spaceport.
That broke the back of the lead soldiers and they started to fall back. Some still pushed forward, but they were easily dealt with by personal and crew served weapons. Mary harried them as they withdrew with direct fire, indirect fire, space bombardment and AG-122 attacks. Mary considered pushing her unit forward after the T’Kab, until she stepped up onto her bunker and saw the bodies of T’Kab soldiers as far as the eye could see. The corner fence post still stood. Now she had a disposal problem to deal with. Fortunately, she had engineer equipment in her unit position already.
Mary checked in with her executive officer to see what the true cost of her successful defense of the perimeter was. Five KIA: Two in Alpha Company (Lance Corporal James, Private First Class Subotai), one in Special Support Company (Sergeant Ross), one in Headquarters Company (Corpsman Petrov) and one in C Company (Staff Sergeant DeSilva), 12 wounded, none seriously. Mary asked for the names and addresses of the next of kin of the dead and she would take care of the letters. She wanted to see the company commanders’ letters before they went out.
She and Lieutenant Colonel Cantor rode up to division in her x-55. She asked him, “Do you have to write any letters?”
He responded with a sigh, “Not this time. How about you?”
“I lost five, all good men and women. I should be on an adrenalin high right now, but all I feel is numb and all I see is their faces the last time I saw them.”
He looked her in the eye and asked, “How many letters would have needed to be written if you hadn’t done what you did? What other commander would have taken the initiative to fill that hole and stayed up all night to make it defensible? It was an honor working for you, Lieutenant Colonel Chen.”
That put a smile on her face, which stayed as she walked into the Division briefing room to a standing ovation.
Chapter Eighteen
Mary’s defense of the corner broke the back of major hostilities in the capital region. The T’Kab Supreme Queen would not surrender to any mere biped she considered a potential meal. She did, however, realize that the loss of 10,000 of her children meant the Civilization might not overcome. She initially doubted the report, thinking it a biped trick, but was convinced when she was allowed to speak to a captured soldier. He could not lie to her even if he wanted to. She lamented that she was a prisoner in her own capital and had no way to affect the situation. She used the sentient queen to communicate with the enemy and see if she could find any honorable way out of the situation.
She asked Ambassadors at Large Steele and T’Rak what it would take to get them off her world and for them to leave the Civilization alone.
The ambassadors sent back in Morse code that she had to agree on boundaries to her Civilization. She would have to give up the five worlds. She would have to cease randomly firing colony pods into other species’ space.
The queen responded that she would think on these things.
* * * * *
The reserve fleet commander waited at the communications relay for days, while ships of all shapes and sizes wandered through on their way to the far reaches of the Civilization. Eventually the first Civilization fleet arrived, then two days later the second. It was a full week before the third showed up. They conferred on the reserve fleet flagship and agreed to place themselves under her command and attempt to break the stranglehold of the biped fleet. They spent three days formulating a plan and working out the problems until all agreed it was doable. They set course for the home system, but on a circuitous path to get there.
* * * * *
The 1st Unified Force landed at the airfield north of the city with little incident. The 20th Armored Division had secured the facility and run off the few T’Kab remaining behind. The K’Rang quickly organized their logistics, moved out into the countryside to the north, and seized numerous military facilities controlling the few towns and villages, bases, and depots in that area. Its five combined units fanned out and secured a 50-kilometer circle.
The 7th Light Corps landed at the main spaceport, acclimatized to the home world, and moved in to relieve the 5th Mobile Corps and secure the capital.
Three days later, the 5th Mobile Corps moved west to the airfield held by the 68th Mechanized Division. The 20th Armored Division was released with the successful landing of the K’Rang Unified Force and moved to join the 5th Mobile Corps at the western airfield. When the 5th Corps was whole again, Lieutenant General Tsien mounted up and started a 500-kilometer march. He joked with his senior staff that now that General Brown and the 6th Army Staff were here, he wanted to be as far away from the general’s flag as possible.
The first two days were relatively uneventful for the corps, then on day three things started to deteriorate. The first incident was at the 160 kilometer mark, where the bridge over the central river was destroyed. This required deploying the mobile bridges for the wheeled support vehicles, first sending a brigade from 16th Armored across the river to secure the far side before building the bridges.
1st of the 85th Armor was chosen to lead the assault across the river. Luck of the draw had Ingrid’s company as the lead element. Ingrid knew her M-25 was capable of hovering over water; she just had never done it, nor had her driver. The first sergeant sensed her trepidation and pulled her to the side.
“Sergeant, do you have some concern about a 50-ton vehicle being able to float across that river?”
She said, “No, First Sergeant, just my ability to swim in freezing water.”
The first sergeant laughed and told her, “Just pretend it’s frozen over and you’re skating.”
She laughed, “Top, I’m from the Texas Hill Country. I never saw ice skates, much less ice thick enough to skate on.”
“You’ll be fine. Just have your driver button up so he doesn’t get a lapful of river if he hits the water too fast. You might want to button up, too.”
“Thanks, Top.”
She went back to her commander’s tank and talked with her crew, especially her driver.
* * * * *
The K’Rang 1st Unified Force commander had asked Kelly to accompany him to the T’Kab home world. The purpose was to orient the K’Rang on the gate system and help with the initial liaison effort. Kelly brought along Lieutenant Colonel Ellie Johns, formerly a 5th Corps armored battalion commander.
They spent the first day in conference rooms aboard the space station above K’Rol, the military planet. They gave brief hour-long classes on the gate system in the morning and classes in the afternoon on ground force coordination measures, liaison officer duties, and space, artillery, and air mission request procedures. Lieutenant Colonel Johns covered ground force tactics, at least as much as could be covered in an hour.
Kelly and Ellie were invited to dine
with Unified Force Commander J’Rel in his dining room on board his flagship, the Assault Transport Ship A’Keb. Kelly apologized, but neither he nor Lieutenant Colonel Johns had their dress uniforms.
J’Rel laughed and said, “Neither have I, Captain. I’m going to war –not a soiree.”
A chagrined Kelly laughed along with him.
The force commander set a fine table and provided both human and K’Rang food items. He also had an excellent liquor cabinet with 100-year old T’Pala. Kelly wondered if it came in any other ages. He had two fingers worth and sipped it slowly.
The commander asked Kelly, “What are the gates like and how do they work?”
Kelly told him, “My parents invented the gates, but even I don’t precisely know how they work. It involves what my parents call the extra dimension, similar to the ether through which radio works. The gate sends matter, memories and personality through this extra dimension like a radio sends voice through the ether. It transmits not just the matter, but the whole person – how he went in is how he comes out. I was one of the first test subjects and I routinely travel through the gates and have had no ill effects. You will feel the coldest cold and see the blackest black for the split second you are in the field, but no other sensations.”
“I think I understand, Captain. Thank you.”
Noticing her yawn, J’Rel asked, “What do you think of the T’Pala, Colonel Johns?”
She shook her head, laughed and said, “I think it is the strongest and smoothest alcohol I’ve ever had. I’m afraid I’m about to fall asleep on you, sir. It has been a long day. With your permission, I would like to turn in.”
He smiled and said, “Of course, Colonel. Let me call my aide to escort you to your quarters.”
A junior officer appeared and Lieutenant Johns left to turn in for the night. Kelly, not feeling anything but mellow, stayed and talked with J’Rel deep into the night, learning much about the T’Kab in the process.
J’Rel poured himself another healthy glass of T’Pala and started his tale. “The war over 100 years ago was a very close run thing. The T’Kab had started colonizing several of what today are major worlds of the K’Rang Empire, but then were just K’Rang outlying colonies. It was a chance result of the T’Kab shotgun approach to colonizing. They and we just bumped into each other. Fortunately, we discovered them before they got too far along and were able to clear out most of the infestations, but on one lightly populated and marginal planet they were able to reach sentient stage unnoticed and activated a beacon to contact the civilization. Months later, due to the distances involved and engine technology of the time, a T’Kab civilization fleet arrived at the world.
“A chance encounter by a K’Rang survey ship sounded the alarm and the K‘Rang fleet arrived and a great space battle ensued. The T’Kab fleet had space factories, terraforming ships, and a large number of escorts. I think they had eleven escorts of all classes and types. The first fleet we sent was woefully overmatched and went down in one engagement. Then, knowing what they were up against, the K’Rang fleet sortied a massive force. However, the fleet went in too cocky and it took a lopsided outcome to the T’Kab’s favor in the first engagement to wake them up. In the next engagement, the fleet stood off and let their missiles cut the T’Kab fleet down. When they had reduced the T’Kab escorts by half, they went in and finished them off with gun and torpedo.
“Then it was the army’s turn to deal with the T’Kab. We didn’t have five Unified Forces then, just three. They landed in a mountainous area where the T’Kab couldn’t burrow and fortified themselves until they had most of two unified forces landed. Then they advanced through a valley, killing every T’Kab they found, but the queens could hatch new soldiers almost as fast as we killed them. Realizing the futility of this approach, they set out to capture some queens and managed to bring two in alive. It was not easy, but they transported them to a research facility on a marginal planet. “They subjected the queens to every type of test they could think of. They eventually settled on developing a disease that affected only the queens and made them waste away. Once the disease found its way into a burrow every new queen hatched had it. Once the queens died off, it was only a matter of time before there were no new T’Kab to replace the dead and soon the world was cleansed. Ships were sent to all infested worlds to spread the disease, and within months the T’Kab were no longer a threat.”
J’Rel swirled his T’Pala in his glass, swallowed it down and a sad look said, “It was an effective solution, but I question the honor in it. I hope we don’t have to use it again.
“Now, Captain, I must rest. I bid you good night. My aide will be here shortly to see you to your room.”
He turned and walked through an adjoining door and Kelly was left alone for the few moments it took for the aide to arrive. There was a tap on the door and the aide stepped in and escorted Kelly to his room, where she left him at the door. He entered to find Ellie in her nightgown sitting in a comfy armchair.
“What’s this?” he asked.
Ellie, with an exasperated look on her face said, “This is our room. Evidently it is customary for K’Rang males and females to sleep together when the females are not in heat. I berated that mousy little aide about how we humans are different, but it seems there is no more room at the inn. We can flip for the couch or you can pull rank, but this room is all we got for tonight.”
Kelly laughed and told her to take the bed. He would be fine on the couch.
“Thank you, sir,” was all she could say.
Kelly went into the attached bath, figured out how to use the peculiar K’Rang facilities, and changed out of his uniform to his skivvies. He had no pajamas, so it would have to do.
By the time he came back into the room, Ellie was a lump under the covers and snoring. She had put a blanket and pillow on the couch for him. He curled up on the couch, pulled the blanket tight under his chin, and quickly went to sleep.
* * * * *
Ingrid climbed up in the commander’s seat and waited for the first sergeant to give the start engine sign. She had talked to her crew and they were looking forward to the sea cruise, as they called it. She took a deep breath and smelled a crisp pine-like scent in the air. The river before her was approximately 30 meters across. The occasional limb or other debris floating by showed it to be fast moving water. The bank on each side was fairly steep, but well within the grade limits of her tank. Across the way, she saw a wood line at the top of the riverbank.
She saw the first sergeant’s sign and told the driver to fire it up. While they waited for the engine to warm up, Ingrid watched the artillery pounding likely ambush points on the far shore. AG-122s flew scout missions on the other side. She saw an odd vehicle climb out of the water on the far side and realized it must be one of the new amphibious engineer vehicles, made for surveying river bottoms.
Her reverie came to an abrupt end when her commander came up on the net and ordered the company to advance. Ingrid had the driver pull up alongside the commander’s transporter. The 1st and 2nd platoons pulled up one to either side and slightly ahead and 3rd platoon, the attached mechanized platoon, was behind, with the exec’s and first sergeant’s tanks trailing. She ordered the driver to button up and closed her own hatch. They went down the bank and slowly moved out onto the water as smoke rounds obscured the far shore.
The feeling of hovering over water was less steady than over the ground, but not a feeling like they were going to tip over. In short order, 1st and 2nd platoon were climbing up the far bank. As she reached the far bank and was beginning to climb up, the ground beside her exploded. She reacted instantly and told the driver to steer left and increase speed. A second round passed through the space they had just left and exploded in the river. She popped her hatch and stuck her head out to get a better view, while the driver drove an evasive pattern. She saw a flash, then one of 1st Platoon’s tanks exploded.
Ingrid slewed the turret aimed and fired an antitank charge, and saw no more fir
ing from that position. Popping her head out again, she scanned with binoculars for other firing points. She saw another flash and put a round into that position and again silenced it. The entire company was zigzagging up the riverbank now and it took some concentration to keep from running into each other. They reached the top of the riverbank and passed through the tree line. 1st Platoon turned left and 2nd platoon turned right, cleaning out the well camouflaged firing positions from the rear. Ingrid fired at the few tank-like vehicles fleeing the battle and flamed three of them.
The two other tank companies pushed through the trees and continued clearing operations in the tree line. Captain Kopinsky called the platoons back, then moved forward to scout out a nearby hilltop. He spread the company out and advanced almost on line. As he got closer to the hilltop, he had the vehicles stop in some rocks just shy of the mostly wooded top and had the infantry dismount and check out the wood line.
It was standard operating procedure to divide wood lines into target sectors among the tanks. Ingrid picked out her sector of woods and had the charger make up equal numbers of antitank and anti-personnel rounds. She had him load up an anti-personnel round.
All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series) Page 24